


In Blood and Iron

by Boxxsaltz



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Action & Romance, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood and Violence, Dark but you’ll laugh a little bit, Drama, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, I'm supposed to kill you to lovers, Supernatural Elements, Vampire Hunters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:47:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 66,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24972577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Boxxsaltz/pseuds/Boxxsaltz
Summary: As a hunter, Jiu’s entire life has been devoted to vanquishing vampires and keeping the ones she loves safe. When presented with an old and powerful threat, the last thing she expected was that she'd have to team up with one of the very creatures she hates to stop them. But there’s more to it than that.
Relationships: Kim Bora | SuA/Kim Minji | JiU
Comments: 62
Kudos: 291
Collections: DreamCatcher Vampire Ficfest 2k20





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2k20 Dreamcatcher Vampire Ficfest.

Minji was given her first set of irons at the age of eleven.  
  
The night was cold. A powder dust of snow scattered across the bed of the woods that surrounded her. Surrounded them. She was one of two other children that stood side-by-side shivering in their puffy coats out of cold but also excitement. It was their Day of Ascending when they finally became fledgling hunters, and Minji felt the bubbling warmth of it in her belly.   
  
The small, wooden box weighed heavily in her hands. It was old. The once cedar wood had darkened with age and the hinges and clasp on the front had tarnished from their polished, silvery shine into a dull, dark graying color. On the top was the seal of her family—the head of a hare with three crisscrossing daggers behind it circled by stars.  
  
The two other children beside her held their own wooden boxes with their respective seals. They were ancient things, passed down generation after generation to the hunter’s children for their Day of Ascending.   
  
“Open it.”   
  
Minji looked up to find the Headhunter who spoke smiling down at her. Behind them stood others. Familiar faces amongst two that she knew as her parents who smiled fondly as she held the box in clammy hands.   
  
They were the clan leaders and other Headhunters. The ones who were left, the ones who had prevailed time and time again against the vampires they fought. Some bore scars. Many wore them proudly. Minji hoped to wear her own set proudly. They were marks of triumph and battle. They spoke of strength and vigilance and Minji wanted to be nothing but.   
  
With the flick of her thumb, the clasp popped open and Minji lifted the top.   
  
Inside resting against red velvet laid a single iron stakedagger—a metal that was lethal to vampires—with its rounded blade and a hilt of translucent quartz carved to fit a hand.   
  
It was beautiful, Minji thought, the way the black iron gave into the quartz. A symbol of life and death. For as they clutched onto the life of the hilt, they vanquished demons with death's blow of the blade.   
  
It was one of many Minji would possess but none were as special as the first. She couldn’t wait to have a full kit of irons when she was older. One like her parents stocked with stakedaggers and iron bullets. Vials of crushed silver and purification waters.   
  
Along with the stakedagger was a ring. Minji lifted it out of the box and held it up. It was a simple piece. A thick, round band of pure iron split by a strip of garnet—the stone of warding and protection. Along the inside were carved words.   
  
_In life, death, and rebirth—_  
  
“We prevail,” Minji finished the known saying of the clans. The one her parents uttered before they left on missions after kissing her on the forehead, bidding their love for what could be the last time.   
  
Minji would watch them go, cloaked in black and weighted by iron and garnet, with prayers on her lips that they would prevail. That morning would come and breakfast would be prepared by the hands of her mother while her father redressed his wounds and finished cleaning their weapons.   
  
But she knew that there was always the possibility that her prayers would go unanswered. That she would find another Headhunter in the living room who would offer condolences and she would be placed with a new family in a new home and they would mourn for nine days the passing of fellow friends and esteemed hunters.   
  
That was a fate Minji had always known and understood.   
  
From the day she turned five, she was taught of the vampires. Of how they were abominations. The result of demons and humans of an old millennium. Of the wicked tales of their deeds, sweeping through villages and towns and cities reaping death with fangs and eyes that burned red as the blood moon.   
  
Of how they would devour earth, heaven, and hell unless they were stopped. Eradicated. Unless they were struck through the heart with iron and their bodies were disintegrated by fire into nothing but ash so that they wouldn’t come back.   
  
Vampires did not belong. Not here. And it was a hunter's job to keep them out.   
  
“Take up your stakedaggers,” said the Headhunter.   
  
Placing the ring back, Minji grabbed her weapon. It was heavy but she liked it. Liked the way the quartz was cool against her palm. Liked the way the weight of the iron spoke of its strength.   
  
“Come.”   
  
Minji followed along with the two other children as the Headhunters lead the way with lanterns swinging in their hands.   
  
The woods were dense, echoing the songs of night against the barks of trees as they winded along a crooked path to the cadence of boots crushing the earth beneath them. Minji clutched her stakedagger firmly in her hands and held the box close to her chest, eyes wide as she fought to see through the darkness but darkness was one of the few things she would have to get used to.   
  
Vampires stuck to the shadows and so it was shadows that she would need to grow accustomed to. She would learn how to sharpen all her other senses and cast away the dependence she had on sight. Smell and taste and sound and touch were her strongest assets and she tried to use them now.   
  
The air smelled of decaying things swirled with the sharp, icy scent of snow along with the distinct smell of ash from the Burning Grounds. There was a small breeze but it was faint—a delicate brush against her cheeks and through her black hair that rested against her shoulders. The cold was biting but not unmanageable though a chill rippled down Minji’s spine when the hunters drew them to a stop.   
  
They stood in a small clearing flanked with thick barks and leafless branches. Along the edges, fanned the Headhunters and clan leaders with their lanterns while Minji and the other children remained in the center facing the northern edge of the clearing where shadowy figures stood.   
  
It took a moment for Minji’s eyes to adjust to what she saw but once they did she gasped.  
  
There were three of them. Vampires. Each stripped down to their barest to show the run of their normally beautiful, flawless skin now riddled in burns of iron. Muzzles held secure around their heads to keep their mouths shut and bindings encrusted in silver—an element that weakened their abilities—held them rooted against the bark of trees.   
  
They were a pitiful sight to see like this. Vampires were known for their elegance. Their beauty. Charm. Their otherworldly appearance that was both alarming and alluring. Too perfect. Like dolls with their falsely blushed cheeks and their glassy eyes that lured you like pieces of gold at the bottom of a wishing fountain.   
  
“Tonight, my children,” said the Headhunter, “is a special night. The night when you take your first steps to becoming a hunter.”  
  
Minji shivered at their words. At the way their eyes passed over her and the other two. A smile pulled at the corner of her mouth when they looked at her in particular and it felt as if she was the only one there in the clearing.   
  
“As fledgling hunters, you will ascend the way you descend. With a dagger in your hands and staring evil in the face”—the Headhunter turned to face the three bounded vampires, arms stretched out on either side of them—“you will vanquish these devils back to the pits they crawled from.”  
  
“Vanquish them!” said the others in the circles, their unison voices fierce like the lash of a whip.   
  
“Take your irons, children,” the Headhunter instructed, “and begin your path unto destiny.”  
  
Minji looked down at the dagger in her hand. The quartz seemed to pulsate in her palm in time with her heart beating hard in her chest and the iron acted like the needle of a compass, pointing her and beckoning her to move forward, forward, forward.   
  
Breaking from the other two, Minji approached the vampire bound in the middle. He was tall with thick muscle. Long, black hair, matted and frayed spilled over his shoulders. His red eyes were like rubies, burning red in their sockets. They turned down to Minji like voids. There was nothingness behind them. And why wouldn't there be? They were demons with no purpose. No meaning. No souls.   
  
Minji raised the dagger in her fist. She was shaking but she tried not to let it show. She clenched her jaw against the swirls of fear that wanted her to pull away. To run. It would be so easy for him to end her. Just the swipe of a hand could crack her neck. Just the fierce bite of fangs could crush her windpipe—tear out her insides.   
  
Vampires were things that went bump in the night and things that nightmares were made of. But it was the duty of hunters to whisk the bad dreams away. It was the duty of hunters to keep the shadows clear and darkness free of harm.   
  
Closing the space between them, Minji eyed the spot on his chest. The spot where his motionless heart sat underneath. The spot which she must strike.   
  
Raising her hand, the tip of the dagger touched flesh. The vampire twitched and Minji sucked in a breath. She looked up again, dark brown meeting deep red. It was so strange, she thought. Being this close to a vampire. Feeling its unnatural cold. Smelling the inviting fragrance that permeated from it mixed with the stink of iron-burned skin.   
  
She was terrified and intrigued at the same time. Curious of these creatures. Fascinated yet disgusted.   
  
“Vanquish him!” The Headhunter commanded.   
  
Minji gritted her teeth.   
  
The dagger struck true. 


	2. Part 1

Propping her elbow on the armrest, Minji dropped her chin against her fist. A finger tapped against the steering wheel she held gripped in a fingerless gloved palm, eyes following one nameless face that passed by the car at the mouth of an alleyway to another. She was getting restless.   
  
“What’s taking her so long?”  
  
“You did ask for a thorough search.”  
  
Minji turned to Yoohyeon who sat in the passenger seat, feet propped up against the dash, and focus on the game she was playing on her phone held in her lap.   
  
The neon lights from a sign that spilled into the dark turned her silvery-blonde hair pale pink and baby blue. It was a little messy, thrown up into a ponytail quickly. It was a show of haste and Minji knew she was to blame. She wanted to respond to the Headhunter’s patrol order quickly.   
  
There had been reports of more vampire activity than normal in multiple sects across the cities that different teams were assigned to guarding. But every time they went to investigate, they were only met with one or two bleeders to vanquish. Not nearly the numbers that had been predicted to make up for the losses left in their wake.   
  
Minji was determined to bring back a better and full report this time. A few bodies to burn more than one. If only because she was getting tired. They all were. With the uptick in sightings, it meant longer and drawn out patrols. Use of energy they were slowly losing.   
  
Yoohyeon yawned and Minji frowned. She hated having to push them. Even Yoohyeon was beginning to show fatigue in places she held reservoirs of energy. Something Minji had come to admire and lean on when she didn’t think she could keep morale up.   
  
Yoohyeon was the last to be sworn into her team having come from a clan that theirs absorbed after an incident had nearly wiped all of them out. Minji and the others accepted them with open arms. That was the hunter way. They were all part of the same cause, all had the same one enemy. Divided they would be weak but together they were strong.   
  
Yoohyeon didn’t speak much when they first met. She often kept to herself and trained alone until Minji invited her to spare one evening.   
  
They were fast friends after that and Minji was the one who requested that Yoohyeon be placed on her team. They were short by one after the other had been relocated to help with a clan further east. She didn’t know of a better fit to fill the empty spot.   
  
Looking up from her game, Yoohyeon’s cheeks scrunched in a smile and Minji forgot her irritation.   
  
“You’re right.” Minji returned her grin. She did ask Yubin to observe the area with the utmost care. These things could not be rushed.   
  
Dropping her phone in her lap, Yoohyeon leaned her head back against the headrest with a groan. “I hope she does hurry. I’m hungry.”  
  
“Me, too.” Minji felt the hollowness in her stomach.   
  
She skipped dinner to go on patrol. A poor move. Being well-nourished was important. Well-nourished and in good shape. The mile jog she had with Yubin in the morning sounded dreadful now that their night was dragging on later than expected.   
  
She was checking the time in the dash when taps sounded off against the window. Minji unlocked the doors and Yubin climbed into the back, the leather of her vest squeaking against the seats. Minji looked at her through the rearview mirror noting the purse in her lips as she ruffled her short, light brown hair back into place.   
  
“Anything?” asked Minji.  
  
She had known Yubin her entire life both being from long lines of hunter families though Yubin’s was much older. And it showed. Minji didn’t know anyone else who was as devoted, if not more, to the cause as Yubin. She was dedicated and sharp. Focused and precise. Because of it, her Day of Ascending came when she was nine instead of eleven like the others.   
  
If it wasn’t for Minji being older, she knew Yubin would’ve been the leader of their team. And there was no doubt that she would be a clan leader one day just like everyone else in her family before her.   
Or maybe one of the three high council members—the ones who had the final say on clan matters along with the power to change laws, rules, and regulations—when she was gray.   
  
“There are a few of them around the perimeter.”  
  
Minji sighed. Their night just got longer. They weren’t allowed to leave vampires running in the open once they’d been sighted.   
  
“Doing what?”  
  
“Nothing.” Yubin turned to Yoohyeon who asked the question with a shrug. “They’re just there.”  
  
Yoohyeon lifted her eyebrow to Minji’s furrow in her brow. That was unusual. Vampires were lurkers but they did so out of sight. They stalked their prey until time to strike, moving along the shadows as if they were made of darkness themselves. To have vampires loitering with seemingly no motivation was odd.   
  
“What are their positions?” asked Minji.  
  
Pulling out her phone, Yubin brought up a map and scooted forward to hold it between the two in the front seat. The light of the screen lit up their faces as she used a stylus to mark dots on the map where the vampires were located around their patrol sect.  
  
“It looks like they’re centered around that club,” Minji noted.   
  
Yubin maximized the building. _The Dungeon,_ it was called. By the cross streets, they were only a block over from its location. Around it were bars and restaurants and shops. Nothing that seemed enticing to vampires other than the ample amount of humans.   
  
Six vampires and a group of humans could result in many things. From past experiences, Minji knew one of those things could result in a massacre of blood and too many lives lost. One vampire would be different but a pack was alarming.   
  
“Let’s arm up.”  
  
Getting out of the car, they rounded to the trunk and popped it up to the spread of equipment tucked inside.   
  
Minji slung up her weapons belt and brought it over her head where it rested across her chest. The weight of the stakedaggers was familiar and secure. Same as the press of the twin trailing point blades crisscrossing in a sheath secure on her belt at her back and the revolver tucked into a holster beneath her arm.  
  
Slinking her arms through her jacket, she zipped it up to the dip in the v-neck she wore beneath, the distressed leather concealing the equipment easily. She leaned down as she moved to the side of the car where she checked her reflection in the backseat window, fingers combing through the thick of her deep, maroon hair that spilled long over her shoulders.   
  
“We’re here to kill vampires, not flatter them,” Yoohyeon teased.   
  
Minji cut her a look that only earned a chuckle as Yoohyeon strapped her set of stakedaggers to her thigh beneath the hem of a black skirt then lifted her holster from the trunk. The belt buckled snug around her waist and she spun two silver pistols onto either hip, each fashioned with sharp, iron-coated blades that could flip out perpendicular beneath the barrel.   
  
The way she tied a flannel around her waist to help shield her pistols from view and the contour of her black sweater that had cuts in the shoulders to show peeks of skin made her look more like a trendy, edgy fashion blogger than it did a hunter. Something that helped blend them into an everyday crowd.   
  
“Flattery can go a long way.” Yubin grunted as she fetched her crossbow hidden in a case that looked like nothing more than a medium-sized instrument. The rest of her weapons—a small handgun and a trio of stakedaggers—strapped onto her belt adorned with pouches that held vials of crushed silver and purification water.  
  
She looked lethal in her vest and destroyed jeans, boots laced and buckled and heavy on her feet. Minji had enough sparring matches against her to know just how lethal Yubin could be.   
  
Leaving the car, they headed for the sidewalk and faded into the crowd. Nightlife was heavy, no doubt drawn by the clubs and bars that lined the streets. Lights of tattoo parlors beckoned passerby’s in with their catchy logos and discount ads while buskers caught the attention of amused strangers who tossed bills into opened guitar cases and hats.  
  
The red and orange lights of the club shined just up ahead. Minji scanned her eyes across the street. Across the way, she spotted one of the vampires Yubin had pointed out. A man decked in black leaning against a light post with a cigarette.   
  
Minji narrowed her eyes. What was he doing?  
  
“One is on the move,” Yoohyeon whispered to her right. “Ten o’clock.”  
  
Minji’s eyes snapped to the location. She caught them quickly—long black hair that was combed to fall over one side of her head, short stature, black sheer, long-sleeved crop, and dark jeans with boots that gave her an extra inch of height. She was a looker and the bouncer thought so too. She slinked into the club easily with an eye smile and the cheeky blow of a kiss.  
  
“That’s not good,” said Yoohyeon.   
  
No, it wasn’t.   
  
“Yubin,” Minji started as they drew closer to the club entrance, “try to find a place high. Take care of the ones you can. Yoohyeon, you have the ones out of range down low. I’ll handle the one inside.”  
  
Each nodded and split off on their paths leaving Minji to walk alone.   
  
She slowed as she approached the entrance to the club and got into line behind a few others who had shown up. She bounced on the balls of her feet in impatience knowing that the longer it took for her to get inside the longer the vampire had to find their victim and have their fill.  
  
Finally reaching the front of the line, the bouncer gave her a once over before he decided she was fit to enter and let her inside.   
  
The music hit her first, loud and bass boosted. It rumbled in her chest and pulsed beneath her feet like the multicolored lights that flashed across the club. The air reeked heavily of sweat and the clash of floral perfume against musky cologne topped with the sting of alcohol.   
  
She flicked her eyes from face to face. Vampires weren’t easy to spot. They were designed to blend in. To look human. But they were also designed to lure, to be the perfect specimen. The optimum peak of attraction. They were nearly incapable of being denied. With faces like angels and tongues dripping with honey, they ensnared easily. Like a fly to vinegar.   
  
Minji was trained to resist. She was trained to see their beauty as something of disgust. Their words to be vile. Their allure as an annoyance.   
  
She was trained to pick apart their guise. The blush they held in their cheeks was unnatural. The skin they had was much too polished. Blemishless. Poreless. Like a mannequin. Like a model with too much makeup, airbrushed to appear anything other than flawless.   
  
And they didn’t sweat.   
  
Minji let her eyes jump from one glistening forehead to another, from one flushed face to another, from one pair of blinking eyes to another until she—  
  
A head of black hair caught her eye as it was tossed back over a shoulder. Teeth flashed up into the face of a boy with floppy hair that the vampire held onto, swaying to the music. She drew him down so an ear rested by lips painted red. Same color that flashed in dark eyes.   
  
There.   
  
“I found her,” she said aloud so the comm in her ear picked it up, eyes held on the vampire as she began her way into the fray. “Status?”  
  
“One down,” Yubin whispered. Minji knew she was high on a rooftop, crossbow clutched in her hands, waiting for the next target with her eye pressed to the scope. “Changing positions. Yoohyeon?”  
  
“Rounding to the back.”  
  
Someone crossing by cut off Minji’s view. Bodies jostled and Minji found her own swept into a wave that pushed her off her path. Craning her neck, she searched again, bouncing from one mane of black to another until she—  
  
Dark eyes met hers, peering over the hill of a shoulder. Interest flicked across the vampire’s face until realization struck. She sneered and spun away where the crowd easily swallowed her up.   
  
Minji cursed under her breath. Squeezing her way through, she pushed people aside until the open air off the dance floor greeted her. The music flipped up to a track more intense than the previous and the lights followed, pulsing in patterns that stole her vision each time they went out.   
  
“Two down,” Yubin came over the comm.   
  
Minji didn’t have time to celebrate. She paced over to the bar, trailing the counter seated with club-goers as she twisted her neck to find the face she was looking for.   
  
Out the corner of her eye, she caught a blur and spun around just in time to see the fan of dark hair disappear around a corner.   
  
“I’m on her,” said Minji, hurrying after. “I’m going to try and lure her out.”  
  
Taking the corner, a short hall greeted her with two doors that lead into restrooms while a third marked Employees Only cut it from going any further.   
  
Squeezing past a couple pinned to the wall, Minji slipped into the restroom. The door shut behind her instantly muffling the intensity of the music. It was quieter inside. A different world than the one on the dance floor.  
  
“Minji, status?” It was Yoohyeon. She was out of breath.   
  
She checked the stalls, kicking one door open at a time.   
  
Empty.   
  
One of the toilets had leaked onto the tile in a large puddle around the base that seeped beneath the partitions into the others. The grime only served to match the rest of the disgustingness of the restroom—graffiti inked into walls, paper towels spilling out of a waste bin, the telltale odor of vomit, and the stink of piss.   
  
She let out a frustrated sigh as she combed a hand through hair. “I lost her.”  
  
“I’m back watching the front entrance,” came Yubin. “I’ll keep an eye out. Yoohyeon?”  
  
“Took down one in the back. I don’t know where the other went.”  
  
“That’s three down. I’ll make it four.” Minji moved to the sink and that’s when she smelled it.   
  
Harsh. Biting.   
  
She sniffed again, head tilted to the side.   
  
She knew that smell.   
  
Spinning back around, she darted into the last stall and crouched beside the puddle. The smell hit her hard and she drew back, holding her arm over her nose as she began to cough.   
  
Gasoline.  
  
“Everything okay?”  
  
The leaking toilet. The puddle on the floor.   
  
Minji ran from the last stall into the second and into the first and back out where the trail of gasoline continued out of the door.   
  
“We have a problem.”  
  
“What’s going on?” Yubin hissed, her voice even but concerned.   
  
“Gasoline. Everywhere.”  
  
Rushing out of the restroom, Minji followed the wet trail through the employee door where she nearly tripped over a body splayed across the ground. It was an employee. Crouching, she placed her fingers against their neck. No pulse. On second observation she noted why. A broken neck, quick and clean.   
  
No.   
  
“We need to get these people out now.”  
  
“What’s—“  
  
“Now!”   
  
Lifting slowly back to her feet, Minji held her hand behind her back, fingers poised to grip one of her blades as she moved deeper along the hall, letting the winding path of gasoline be her guide as she passed one locked door after the next.   
  
Orange light cast down from an exit sign above an emergency door straight ahead. Footsteps echoed as someone stepped from the shadows of one of the rooms into the beam, lighting black hair up like a burning halo.   
  
“Oh,” said the vampire, catching sight of her. “Hey.”  
  
Minji froze, fingers gripping her knife still hidden behind her back  
  
“Do you think these are still good?”  
  
Something shuffled in their hands as they gave it a shake. Minji could just make out what it was. A box. A box of matches.   
  
“They don’t go old, do they?”  
  
“Put the box down.”  
  
The vampire snorted, a light and girlish sound. “Um, no?” She plucked out a single match.  
  
Minji unsheathed her knife. “I’m warning you.”  
  
“Warning _me?”_ The vampire tilted her head. “Do you really think you with that little toy is going to fast enough stop me?”  
  
Minji flexed her jaw.  
  
The vampire smirked. “I didn’t think so.”  
  
With the flick of the wrist, fire bloomed on the tip.   
  
The vampire giggled. _“Boom.”_  
  
“No!”  
  
Minji sprinted forward.   
  
Air knocked out of her as she rammed into the vampire and slammed her back into the emergency door, forcing down the lever. Alarms blared as it swung open and they clattered to the ground, skidding across the concrete.  
  
Minji gasped, drawing air back into her lungs. Her body shook, shuddering at the vibration of the vampire cackling beneath her.   
  
“Oh, no. I think I might’ve dropped something.”  
  
Hair whipped across Minji’s face as she snapped her neck around. Fire blazed beyond the door, dancing in red, orange, and yellow licks against the dark backdrop of night.   
  
“No,” she whimpered. “No, no, no—“  
  
Fingers gripped Minji like claws and threw her to the side where she rolled. Her world spun and she blinked through the sting in her eyes to see the vampire push up to her feet.   
  
Reaching out, Minji gripped for her ankle. She grunted as she was dragged with the force of a kick before the vampire stumbled, knees cracking against the pavement with an audible sound.  
  
“Let go of me!”  
  
A booted foot came for her face. Minji rolled onto her back, narrowly missing the heel, and grabbed for a stakedagger.   
  
With a yell, she flipped back over and sent the pointed tip into the vampire’s calf who snarled, mouth open wide and pointed in fangs as Minji yanked it out only to send it into the thick of her thigh.   
  
Dark, purplish, black blood sprang up from the wound, oozing out over jeans and onto Minji’s hand.   
  
Red eyes snapped down at her and fangs bared. Minji reeled her arm back, aim set for the vampire’s stomach when fingers wrapped around her wrist and twisted. Her hand unfurled and the dagger clattered to the ground.   
  
The force of a pull ripped Minji across the ground and into the air enough to be slammed right back down. Breath left her in a rush and she wheezed.  
  
Weight settled over her, pinning her down where fingers coiled around her neck. Panic sparked as pressure squeezed at her throat, slowly crushing. Frantic, Minji wrapped her hands around the vampire’s wrists, futilely trying to pull them off. She couldn’t. She wasn’t strong enough.   
  
Fangs peeked from a long mouth as the vampire grinned. “Say good night, _princess.”_  
  
Teeth clenched, Minji shot her hand up, jamming her fist into the vampire's neck where her ring dug into flesh.   
  
She hissed as the metal singed her skin and her grip loosened enough for Minji to pull in a breath for strength to reach for the dagger that had dropped. Flipping it around, she sank it into the vampire’s stomach, right at the base of her ribs.  
  
Red eyes went wide and she tumbled to the ground where she writhed, hands clawing in attempts to dislodge the thing in her belly. She choked, sputtering in pain as burns spread across her skin and wrecked her lungs that had been punctured.   
  
Minji stood, looming above her in the light of the fire that burned from the club.  
  
Reeling her foot back, she sent the steel toe of her boot into the vampire’s face, snapping her neck to the side with a disgusting crack.   
  
“Good night.”   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The Temple was quiet.   
  
The grounds were empty save for the fluffy, white Persian cat that skittered across the stone steps where Minji sat. With her was Yoohyeon, head cradled in her lap where her eyes occasionally drooped before they fluttered back open as she fought the call of sleep.   
  
Up ahead along the path that led to the gates was Yubin speaking to one of the Headhunters. They had each been questioned by them, giving their recount of the events at the club. Minji's stomach had yet to unfurl from the knots that twisted there from the events that happened.   
  
The fire had engulfed the entire building before the firefighters showed up. Within the chaos, the other vampires were lost. Many patrons were injured. Though none died, Minji couldn’t help but feel that they had failed.   
  
She had failed.   
  
Yubin bowed to the Headhunter who left quietly out of the gates.   
  
“What did they say?” asked Minji when Yubin got halfway up the steps.   
  
The Temple belonged to the hunters. Built by those before them and ones before even them. It served as a safe haven. One of the various points of command and briefing. Spare weapons could be found inside along with medical supplies and beds if one needed. There were others like it and some that held a different guise to the public in the different sects.  
  
To anyone else, the Temple looked like just another historic landmark, privately owned by a name no one knew, but it was anything but.   
  
Stretched out behind was a graveyard of fallen hunters and below the grounds, in tunnels like catacombs were the holding cells, each fortified by iron to hold the vampires they captured until their fate was met.   
  
In one sat the vampire from the club. It was only a matter of time before her bones would set back into place and she would regain consciousness. Then Minji would question her.   
  
“They said to get rest,” said Yubin, sitting down. The Persian purred as it padded over to her and rubbed its face against her thigh. Taking off her glove, Yubin stroked her fingers through the fur on top of its head. “They’ve finished the investigation at the sight. No signs of bleeders.”  
  
Minji dropped her head back against the beam she leaned against.   
  
“We did everything we could,” she offered. It was her job to offer uplifting words even if she wanted to do anything but.   
  
People could have died and some would until they figured out what the reasoning behind the vampire’s attack was.   
  
“We should do as they said. Get sleep.” Yubin tilted her head down to Yoohyeon. She had drifted off again.  
  
Minji wanted to do the same. Her body ached. She knew there was bruising hidden beneath her clothes. A cold shower would help. She could use one. She felt sticky and there was blood stained on her clothes and hands that she hadn’t been able to completely clean off.   
  
“I want to talk to her first.”  
  
“She might not be awake.”  
  
“I’ll check.”  
  
Yubin frowned. “Minji.”  
  
“I’ll only be a few minutes.” She pushed on a smile. “Okay?”  
  
Yubin relented with a nod. “I’ll come to get you if you take too long.”  
  
Careful to slip away, Minji tucked her balled up jacket beneath Yoohyeon’s head to cushion it against the stone and got up.   
  
She descended the stairs quickly and followed the stone path that led toward the back of the Temple, shrouded by trees that grew thick and tall with their weeping branches in the Temple gardens.   
  
Beyond tombstones and monuments was the entrance into the cells in one of the tombs. Steps descended downward lit only by dim, yellow floodlights placed in intervals.   
  
At one time in history, the cells were used regularly. It was in these cells that the old hunters learned the nature of vampires. What was fact from fiction from myth.   
  
It was required that all hunters read the old texts along with the new. Both to learn where and who they came from but also how by progress and determination they became better. More efficient.   
  
Minji stopped in front of the only cell in use. It was dirty and dusty. She didn’t know the last time they cleaned them out other than the occasional sweep. These cells saw fewer vampires over time the more they dealt with them on site. Few were brought in like this for questioning. Most times it resulted in nothing. Vampires didn’t like to talk. Unless you were lucky.   
  
Tonight Minji was feeling desperate much more than she was feeling lucky.   
  
Dull, red eyes shifted up to her as Minji approached. The vampire sat against the back wall, legs stretched out in front of her with one hand held over her stomach where the dagger had struck.   
  
She was a small thing. Minji hadn’t fully noticed until they were scraping her up off the pavement and discarded her limp and unconscious in the trunk. It still amazed her how size didn’t matter. All vampires were fast, all vampires were strong. Four times as much as any human. And their bones were like steel though not unbreakable.   
  
Minji couldn’t help but think that if this girl were human she never would’ve stood a chance.   
  
“Have you come to gloat?” the vampire croaked.   
  
“I could.” Minji came to stop in front of the cell, half hidden in shadows and half in the beam of a floodlight. “But no.”  
  
She scoffed as she shifted, neck tilting up to meet Minji’s stare with an empty smile. “Thanks for breaking my neck, by the way. I’ve had a crick in it for days. The resetting really helped.”  
  
“It wasn’t a favor.”  
  
She gave Minji a bored look. “Are all hunters this bad at picking up on humor or are you just that dry?”  
  
“I’m here to ask questions, not for comedy hour.”  
  
“Shame. I’ll be here all night!” Breath catching in her throat, she wheezed.   
  
Coughs wracked through her and she lifted a hand just in time to catch the spray of dark blood in her palm. Minji simply stared on, watching her struggle.   
  
“What?” She hissed, sneering in Minji’s direction as she licked the brackish smears from her lips. “Ask your questions, this isn’t a damn zoo.”  
  
“What’s your name?”  
  
“Why? Planning to engrave a tombstone for me?”  
  
The thought disgusted her. Vampires didn’t get graves. They didn’t get remembrance. They didn’t deserve it. They were turned to ash and returned to the pits of hell where they belonged.   
  
“I’ll add it to the list of others I've vanquished,” Minji spat back.   
  
The vampire snorted. “And they call us monsters.”  
  
“You are.”  
  
“Takes one to know one, princess.”  
  
Minji seethed. “Don’t call me that.”  
  
Lips peeled back in a sickening grin only for another fit of coughs to steal it away. It was a nasty sound. Wet and painful. The iron was festering through her organs little by little, weakened body unable to heal quickly enough. She would suffer a slow, agonizing death if she didn’t feed soon.   
  
“What’s your name then?” the vampire questioned, voice more rugged than before. The insides of her lips were stained black.   
  
“It’s none of your business.”  
  
“Then mine isn’t yours either.”  
  
“Fine.” It meant little to none to Minji anyway. “Why did you set the club on fire?”  
  
She shrugged. “I like a good light show and the one the DJ was putting on was”—she mimicked snoring at the cost of choking—"boring.”  
  
“There were over two hundred people in there tonight.”  
  
The vampire blinked. “I’m sorry, is that number supposed to mean something to me?”  
  
“What happened to the others?” Minji kept going. At the furrow in the vampire's brow, she added, “the other vampires outside the club. The ones that got away?”  
  
Because they had only gotten three of them. From Yubin’s sweep, she reported six including the one they had now. If it wasn’t for the gasoline, they could’ve had them. So Minji thought.   
  
“Oh, I don’t know,” the vampire hummed. “You see, while they were making a run for it, I was being violently assaulted. Not that I minded much. It’s not every day I get to be stabbed by someone who actually makes murder look”—her eyes raked Minji up and down with a suggestive bite of the lip— _“sexy.”_  
  
Minji’s ears burned. “It isn’t murder. It’s cleansing!”  
  
“You said that with your whole chest didn’t you?” The vampire whistled. “Taking sweet but psycho seriously, I see. Demented.”  
  
“You’re demented,” Minji bit back, irritation rising in her quickly. This vampire had no right to insult her. Not being the soulless creature that she was. “You shouldn’t even exist! We will turn all of you to ash.”  
  
The vampire moved in a blink, rushing the bars with a wicked snarl. Minji jerked away as fangs and eyes blazed up at her.   
  
“I’m not afraid of you!” she roared. “I’m not afraid of any of you— you low—“ she choked again.   
  
Hands gripped the bars, turning knuckles white as she clutched hard, using them to hold her up then quickly let go when they burned red into her palms. She winced as she cradled her hands into one another, the action causing the sleeve of her shirt to push up just enough to—  
  
“What is that?”  
  
Reaching through the bars, Minji grabbed the vampire’s wrist, yanking her into the iron. She screamed on contact as metal burned across her face. Her pain meant little to Minji compared to what she found beneath her sleeve that she pushed up.   
  
There, inked into the inside of her left forearm, was a feather.   
  
“I said, let go!” The vampire wrenched her arm away and stumbled back, tripping over her feet and down onto the ground where she panted on hands and knees.   
  
“You’re with the Sparrow coven.”  
  
The vampire peered over her shoulder. There was an angry red line painted down her face and over her lips. Her eyes shimmered the same burning color. All former traces of humor were gone. Only anger. Only hurt.   
  
“If you know that name, then you should know you and your clan will never stand a chance.”  
  
Minji narrowed her eyes, cloaking the unease that fluttered in her stomach. “What are you talking about? Where is he?”  
  
 _"He?”_ The vampire dropped back against the wall where she slumped. “Everywhere. Even if you could find them, you’ll never vanquish them. Tonight was just one attack of many. You’ll never be able to keep up and every hunter will be”— she dragged her thumb slowly across her throat.   
  
“You’re lying.”  
  
“Am I?”  
  
“Lying about what?” Footsteps drew Yubin into the cells, her shadow shrinking as she neared.   
  
The softness in her face fell away as soon as she spotted the vampire. There was more disgust and rage behind her eyes than Minji ever saw on any other person. It wasn’t without reason. It was a wonder Yubin’s family had survived this many generations when so many had been snatched by the hands of vampires, always put on the front lines, and charging into battle due to their skill and strength and service. Her hatred was deep.   
  
“She's with the Sparrow coven,” Minji told her. She watched as the name washed over her teammate the same way it did her.   
  
Sparrow was a known name. An ancient name. It was marked in journals from the old hunters and it was a name spoken in whispers amongst the ones now.   
  
It was a name Minji knew personally. One that wasn’t just something scrawled on pages and shared word of mouth but one of reality. One of pain and loss. One that had added two more headstones into the Temple grave that Minji left flowers on every month on the date they were taken from her.   
  
She was only sixteen and all the years ahead she envisioned with her parents evaporated with one of the most painful nights.   
  
“Minji…” The corners of Yubin’s mouth turned downward. She knew. She understood.  
  
“She says they’re planning an attack,” she pressed, soundly a little too uncontrolled. “On hunters.”  
  
“Not just hunters.” The vampire flicked a smirk up at Yubin who shot her dead look. “Oh, do you want to know more? I bet you’re dying to know more.”  
  
Crossing her arms over her chest, Yubin squared her shoulders toward the bars. “Well, spit it out.”  
  
“Information isn’t free.”  
  
Shaking her head, Yubin turned away. “It’s not worth it. We’re not going to get anywhere with her.”  
  
Minji didn’t think so either but she didn’t want to give up. Not just yet.   
  
“What do you want?” asked Minji, stepping closer to the cell. “In exchange for information, what do you want?”  
  
The vampire’s eyebrows lifted in interest. She regarded the two of them, taking in the full of Yubin before her eyes settled back on Minji. “If I told you that it was Sparrow’s head that I wanted, would you believe me?” Crawling across the dirt, she moved up to the bars, peering up with eyes that glimmered in the stray beam of a floodlight. “I’ll even help you do it.”  
  
Yubin laughed. It was unthinkable. A vampire betraying their own coven? Betrayal like that from a hunter meant the strip of your irons and garnet and exíle unless the High Council decided a harsher fate. One that placed your head on the chopping block, neck met with the blade of an ax. It was a barbaric means of execution to match the barbaric offense.   
  
“I think we can do just fine on our own,” said Yubin, tone final. “Come on.” Grabbing Minji’s arm, she steered her away to go.   
  
“You need me!” The vampire roared, fist punching against the bars as she yelled at their backs. “No matter how much iron you have, you’ll never get close to them. I can get you close. I can guarantee you will.”  
  
“How do we know you’re not lying to us?” Minji quizzed, turning back from where she stopped.   
  
“You don’t.” Teeth flashed. Even with her fangs sheathed, her canines were notably longer and sharper than the rest of her teeth. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”  
  
Minji gawked. “Never.”   
  
“Spare a little faith, princess. Or everyone you know is going to die.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Water ran hot into the tub, steadily filling up.   
  
Minji sat on the edge, groaning as she pulled her shirt up and over her head. The mirror across the way blared her reflection back at her. Purple bruising stood out against the pallor of her skin and the white backdrop of the bathroom.   
  
She fingered the bloom of color at her ribs, wincing at their tenderness. There were scratches on her thighs, put there when she was dragged across the pavement, and the sides of her neck were dotted in patches where the vampire had crushed her neck.   
  
Minji closed her eyes. That was close. Too close.   
  
Removing the tie in her hair, she let it fall free. The ends were brighter redder than the rest. She used to like the color. Loved how it reminded her of the garnets they held dear.   
  
Like second nature, Minji traced her finger around the ring that never left its place on her right hand. It took a few years from the day she got it before it fit properly. Up until then, she wore it on a chain around her neck.   
  
Each hunter had their own piece of iron and garnet. Yubin’s was the medallion of a bear with a garnet stone in its mouth held secure in a leather cuff she wore on her wrist. For Yoohyeon, it was the charm of a wolf with garnets for eyes that rested nestled at the base of her throat on a necklace that she never took off. They were for protection just as much as they were a symbol of who they were.   
  
Tonight Minji didn’t feel quite worthy to wear it.   
  
Shutting off the water, she discarded the rest of her clothes and slipped into the tub, sighing on contact. She rested back against the wall and lowered until the water touched just below her chin. Eyes flutter shut.   
  
She was tired. So, so tired. But she couldn’t slow down. Not now that there was more to be done.   
  
She had argued with Yubin outside of the cells on what to do about the captured vampire. Yubin wanted to get rid of her like they did the others. Surrender her body to flames. Minji agreed but not before they could use her.   
  
If what the vampire told them was true, then there were gaps in their knowledge. They were all in danger. And if Sparrow—  
  
Minji whimpered at the thought of their name.   
  
If Sparrow was planning something, they had to stop them. They had to bring them down. And what better way to know how to do that than use one of their own?  
  
 _“What if it’s a trap?”_  
  
The thought had crossed her mind. She knew it was a possibility but there was also the possibility that it wasn’t. That what they were told was the truth. That they had a secret weapon to destroy the force that had plagued their clan for centuries.   
  
The harsh vibration of her phone brought Minji’s eyes open. Sitting up, she reached for the device she rested on top of the toilet and opened the waiting message.   
  
_[Yubin]: I’ll follow your lead._  
  
Minji smiled, relief washing through her.   
  
Before they left, she told Yubin to think about it, and on her way to drop them off at the apartment they shared, she filled Yoohyeon in on what they learned. Yoohyeon was the least of her worries. She would follow what Minji decided. She trusted her. Sometimes blindly much to Yubin’s annoyance. But she was the leader though that didn’t always mean she was right.  
  
Yubin challenged her like anyone with common sense should. She appreciated that she did on occasion.   
  
Fingers worked over a response.   
  
_[Minji]: We can win this. Together. For the clan._  
  
Yubin didn’t respond but Minji knew she read it.   
  
Placing her phone down, she relaxed back into the water.   
  
Tomorrow was a new day. Tomorrow they would see what more they could learn. Tomorrow they would be one step closer to saving them all.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
“Wake up.”  
  
Metal clanged as Yubin beat her dagger back and forth between the bars of the cell. Minji stood beside her, hands buried in the pockets of her jeans. Behind the bars, the vampire remained motionless, sprawled out across the ground.   
  
“Hey!” Yubin called again.   
  
A head lolled with a gurgle of a moan. Minji felt herself relax. She wasn’t dead.   
  
“What’s wrong with her?” Spinning the dagger in her fingers, Yubin slipped it back into one of the sheaths in her belt.   
  
“The iron poisoning. She needs blood.”  
  
The burns would’ve gotten to much of her insides by now. Though she didn’t need to breathe, drawing a breath just to speak would be excruciating in her state. Any movement would be if her stomach and internal organs had been eaten through.   
  
Minji undid the bolt and slipped into the cell.   
  
“What are you doing?”  
  
“We don’t have time to waste.”  
  
Falling to the ground beside the vampire, she nudged her in the cheek forcing her to roll her head upright. Eyes were slow to open. They were dull. Irises nearly black. Her lips were dry and cracked, blotched with blood that she had coughed up. It smeared across her cheek and down her neck where black lines like spider webs spread across the skin beneath the sheer fabric of her shirt.   
  
“Not too close there, princess,” she croaked with a cough that she could hardly manage to get out. “I bite.”  
  
Scowling, Minji retrieved a blade from its sheath. She ignored Yubin’s warning protest as she slit into her palm with a grimace.   
  
“Just shut up and eat.”  
  
Squeezing her hand into a fist, she held it over the vampire's mouth letting a stream of fresh blood drip onto her lips. She quickly opened her mouth that showed lengthening fangs as she slurped greedily, tongue flicking out to catch what didn’t make it in.   
  
“That’s enough,” Yubin grumbled. “Minji.”   
  
She drew her hand away. Fingers reached out, wrapping around her wrist and yanked. Blood-warm lips formed around the wound of her hand with a violent suck.  
  
“Stop.” Minji tried pulling away but the vampire’s hold was stronger. “I said, stop!”  
  
A gunshot rang through the corridors.   
  
Minji jumped back the same as the vampire who kicked backward until she was pressed flat against the wall. On the ground where she once laid was a single, iron bullet, crushed on one side where it had struck the concrete.   
  
“Was that necessary?” Minji turned over her shoulder to Yubin who slipped her handgun into the holster beneath her arm.   
  
“Get out of there.”   
  
The bolt latched into place once she was on the outside.   
  
“Go get cleaned up,” Yubin grumbled. “I’ll start here.”  
  
Nodding, Minji started for the exit, glancing over her shoulder before she reached the stairs and started up to the surface. Yoohyeon greeted her there, rushing across the grass.   
  
“Is everything okay? I heard gunshots.”  
  
Minji forced on a smile. “Everything is fine.”  
  
Catching sight of blood, Yoohyeon gaped. “Your hand.”  
  
“Don’t worry. I did it to myself.”  
  
Yoohyeon held her hand cradled in her palm as she led the way into the Temple. Instructing her to sit on a bench, Minji waited for Yoohyeon to get the first aid kit. She stared down at her hand resting on her thigh. The bleeding had slowed leaving stains of red across her palm and streaked along her wrist where it had dripped.   
  
Yubin was right to be angry with her. What she did was dangerous. Especially at the mercy of a starving vampire.   
  
“That looks deep.” Yoohyeon sank onto the bench beside her, first aid kit balanced in her lap. “Should I ask?”  
  
“Please, don’t.”  
  
“Okay, then.”  
  
She watched as Yoohyeon tended to the wound. She had the best medic skills of the three of them and was often the one who patched them up if extensive treatment from a clan doctor wasn’t necessary. She had delicate hands but precise fingers. She was gentle and warning as she poured antiseptic over the cut and wiped it clean. A long, red gash screamed from the rough texture of a pallid palm. Minji didn’t miss that it didn’t hurt as much as it should. She knew why.   
  
There was a soothing agent in vampire saliva. She thought back to the way the vampire had taken her hand fully into her mouth. The strange mix of hot and cold. The pressure of a suck and the velvety roll of a tongue that pushed against the wound, enticing more blood to flow.   
  
Minji had never felt anything like it. Keeping out of the jaws of vampires was one of the very first rules. To be caught between teeth meant death. Meant the possibility of infection.   
  
Vampire venom lied in their fangs like that of a snake. A single bite didn’t always result in the change. Venom began the first step. It worked like a virus, creating fevers and sweats. Aches. It brought on a severe hunger but the hunger wasn’t for food. It was for blood. That was the second step. Consume blood. That was when the change would occur.   
  
Hunters were forced into a week of quarantine if they were bitten. In that time, they had to wait out the infection like a cold. Wracked with terrible symptoms until the venom was sweated out.  
  
It took days to recover afterward. A diet of dry food and soups until the body could heal properly. Some had to be hospitalized because the venom was that vicious the way it ravaged on the insides.   
  
Minji never wanted to know what that felt like. And she never wanted to know the alternative. What it felt like for your humanity to be stripped from you and become a vile creature. If only because then that meant they would have to take her to the Burning Grounds, too.   
  
“Minji?”  
  
Lashes fluttered as she blinked up to Yoohyeon’s face. She had a scar across her right eye. Diagonally where the sharp nail of a vampire had swiped her. Minji had helped tend to the stitches as she healed.   
  
“Hm?”  
  
“I said, is the bandage too tight?”  
  
She looked down to where Yoohyeon had wrapped her palm. It was neat and efficient. She flexed her fingers, testing it out. “It’s perfect.”  
  
Pacing back through the garden, they entered the cells, eyes blinking until they adjusted enough to the dim light.   
  
Yubin looked frazzled. Fists rested on either of her hips and her jaw was tight. The vampire looked just as irritated but there was a dumb, little grin on her mouth. Far different from the half-dead thing she was moments ago. Minji shuddered knowing it was her own blood that had put life back into her.   
  
“This is useless,” Yubin huffed when she saw them. “I’m not getting anywhere.”  
  
“Maybe if you asked _nicely.”_ The vampire stuck out her bottom lip, eyes big like a pleading puppy.   
  
Waving Yubin aside, Minji stepped forward to take the lead. “Enough playing around. Tell us what we want to know.” Eyebrows quirked at her. Minji sighed. _“Please.”_  
  
“My name is Bora,” she spat in Yubin’s direction to Minji’s right. “I’m one of Sparrow’s pawns like the rest of us are and part of the army they’re building.”  
  
“Army?” Yoohyeon snorted. “Wouldn’t we know about that?”  
  
Bora lifted her chin to her, voice mocking. “No. You wouldn’t. It’s been forming for years. Growing until it’s time.”  
  
Minji shared a glance with Yubin. Like Yoohyeon, they hardly believed it. Large hoards weren’t easy to hide. The likelihood of something like an army being built over years without their knowledge was slim.   
  
“Okay, we’ll bite.” Crossing her arms, Yubin leaned back against the opposite cell. “What’s this”—she made quotations with her fingers—“army for?”  
  
“The first wave is to end hunters.”  
  
“First?” Yoohyeon questioned.   
  
“After the hunters are dealt with, then it’s political leaders. That’s the second wave—to establish a new rule. The third is to take control of the people. Some will be turned, the ones who resist will be killed, and the ones who obey will live to serve.”  
  
Minji stilled.   
  
Yubin laughed, hands smacking in a mocking show of applause. “Nice story but that will never happen.”  
  
“It’s already happening!” Bora hissed in her direction then turned her eyes to Minji as she moved to the front of the cell. “Whether you believe me or not, Sparrow has strengthened numbers and extended reach further than you’re aware of. Actually, they’re hoping you believe you’re in control. All these small attacks and sightings are strategic. It’s to keep your focus on what doesn’t matter while we get stronger every day.”  
  
A lip found place between Minji’s teeth. She chewed on it in thought, gaze held on the red-tinted ones that bore pleadingly back at her.   
  
She didn’t know if she believed Bora completely but she could sense that there was some truth to her words. There must be. What she said was far too detailed and strategic to be something hastily put together.   
  
“How do we stop them?” asked Minji.   
  
Bora’s smile returned. “You can’t.”  
  
“For fuc—“  
  
“Not directly,” Bora snipped at Yubin. She turned back to Minji. “You have to cut off their resources first. Weaken them. Then you might get lucky.”  
  
“What do we hit first?”  
  
“Minji,” Yubin interrupted. All eyes shifted to her as she pushed off the cell and stepped forward, turning her back to Bora to address her team. “We need to talk about this. Are we really going to take mission strategies from a bleeder?”  
  
“The bleeder who is your only hope?” Bora chimed. “Oh, yeah, let’s not listen to the insider with all the valuable information.”  
  
Yubin rounded on her quickly, rushing up to the bars where Bora didn’t even flinch. “Your value means nothing to me.”  
  
“You’re not the one in charge.” Bora stuck out her bottom lip, feigning a pout. “Boo-hoo, tiny, your authority is overruled.” Her voice dipped. “And I already have your pretty, little leader wrapped around my finger.”   
  
Bora winked. Minji bristled.   
  
“Stop it. Both of you.”   
  
Yubin stumbled back with the yank of the back of her shirt.   
  
“Stay in line,” Minji ordered her teammate then spun back to Bora, finger pointed in her face. “And you’re right. _I_ am the leader but the choices I make are made by me. Not you. Now”—she turned out to address all of them—“we can all put aside our difference and come out successful or we can keep at each other’s throats and end up just like Bora said. Dead. What is it going to be?” She swept her gaze from Yoohyeon to Yubin. “Are you going to let me lead this team or not?”  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” Yoohyeon was the first to respond.   
  
Minji offered her a gentle smile before turning back to Yubin. Her jaw flexed, eyes raging in fury behind her controlled expression. Minji didn’t back down. And maybe other times she would. She would listen to Yubin and she would go with what she decided.   
  
She was more calculating than either of them, her mind always linking plans together while Minji was the one who orchestrated the way they were executed. Together they were a promising force but divided they would crumble.   
  
They couldn’t crumble. Not with something this serious  
  
“Lee Yubin,” Minji squared her shoulders in her direction.   
  
The use of her full name dropped her head down. “Yes, ma’am.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Rounding to the cells, she found Bora’s all too familiar grin.   
  
“Impressive.”  
  
“Tell us what we need to do,” Minji snapped.   
  
Her grin slid off. “There are three key points. Blood, money, and weapons.”  
  
“What do you mean? Blood?” Yoohyeon asked, moving up to the bars on Minji’s left. It was a small show of loyalty to her but it was enough.   
  
“To keep off the radar,” Bora explained, “a blood trade was created. Some of us were assigned to pose as doctors or nurses to have access to blood banks. Others drained humans just enough to get what they needed. We would then deliver it.”  
  
Yoohyeon blinked. “That’s...actually clever.”  
  
“Aww, thank you. Someone here appreciates a good scheme.”  
  
“Deliver it where?” The buckles in Yubin’s boots jingled as she moved forward.   
  
“There’s one storage space at a seafood market. It helps cover the smell of blood in case rogue vampires catch on. Without ready blood, the coven will be weakened. We’re under strict orders not to feed on humans. It’ll take them time before they can figure out a new system if we cut them off. While they’re trying to handle that, we move to the next point.”  
  
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” said Minji, glancing to her left and then her right. “We have this much. Now, let’s strategize a plan.”


	3. Part 2

The city passed by as Yubin drove. Yoohyeon sat by her side while Minji took up the backseat with Bora. There were only a few more traffic lights before they came up on the seafood market.   
  
Minji patted the front of her jacket, feeling for all her weapons neatly concealed. Yoohyeon opened the case with their comms and distributed them out, going through a quick soundcheck.   
  
The mission was to destroy the blood supply and rid of the vampires who were key distributors of the operation. They’d thrown the plan together quickly and ventured out a few days later to put it into motion.   
  
Minji didn’t know why but she was nervous. She’d been on countless missions, ones that had nearly taken her life, but she couldn’t remember a time that she was this unsettled. Not since she was put on first her assignments.  
  
“Does everyone remember their roles?” she asked, eyes catching the street name of the next traffic light. Only one more to go.   
  
“Intercept the delivery truck outside,” said Yoohyeon. “Dispose of the stocks and look for any others that might be around.”  
  
“I’ll act as cover for Yoohyeon first,” Yubin took over. “Immobilize the bodies then cover the entrance for other bleeders.”  
  
Minji nodded. “I’ll get inside with Bora. We’ll get rid of the supply and get out as soon as possible. Any vampire sighted is to be taken down. Sparrow Coven or not. Copy?”  
  
“Copy.”  
  
“Copy,” Bora added.  
  
Minji swung her head over to the right, eyes narrowing. “Do not mess this up.”  
  
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”  
  
Minji smacked the hand away that tickled fingers beneath her chin, bristling at the laugh Bora gave in return.  
  
Yubin pulled the car onto a meter and they all climbed out.   
  
They split up, fanning out across the street and taking to the sidewalk. Minji shifted her eyes from Yoohyeon’s back to Yubin’s before they were taken away by the crowd. She knew there was nothing to worry about. They had worked together for years. She had more faith in her team than any other hunter but she still couldn’t shake the uneasy pang in her stomach.   
  
“Everything okay, captain?”  
  
Her lips pursed as she looked down to Bora at her side. She was putting more trust in her than was safe. Without the bars of a cell or cuffs, there was no telling what she would do.   
  
“Just follow the plan.”  
  
Saluting, Bora took the lead. Minji followed behind her, dipping in passed the tents outside lining the street to inside the open-air building of the market.   
  
The stench smacked her hard and she coughed, sucking in shallow breaths until her nose adjusted to the array of smells. People filled up the walkways making it hard to maneuver and the shouts of vendors along with patrons with the occasional announcement that came through the overhead speakers made it hard to focus.   
  
“What are we looking for?”  
  
“Not what. Who,” said Bora. She took a sharp left by a stand with fish swimming back and forth in a tank. Minji had to skip to keep up with her. “We could sneak into the warehouse out back but I know an easier way. One that won’t get our cover blown.”  
  
“And what would that be?”  
  
The harsh sting of a slap burned across Minji’s face.   
  
Minji blinked.   
  
Bora winced. “I probably should’ve warned you.”  
  
Using two fingers, Minji jammed them into the old knife wound in her gut. Bora wheezed, her grip crushing as she tried to pry Minji away.   
  
“Sorry. I’m sorry!”  
  
“Speak fast.”  
  
“I had to make it believable.”  
  
“Make what believable?”  
  
“That you’re my sell.”  
  
Eyebrows lifted.   
  
“That I brought you here to drain you. For your blood.”  
  
Minji drew away her hand. Bora slumped over, clutching at her stomach in a pant.   
  
“Next time, fill me in.”  
  
“Got it.” Grimacing, she began walking again. “You should mess your hair up a little. Maybe let me wear your jacket?”  
  
“Hair, yes. Jacket, no.” Fingers combing through her hair, Minji did the best she could to make it unruly.   
  
“Put your hands behind your back.”  
  
Bora held onto her wrists once she did, weaving through another line of displays and vendors until she slowed down and stopped in front of one. Cartons of fish laid across a table in an array of types. Tubs of shrimp on ice and buckets labeled with names of sauces and spices and marinating dressings.   
  
Behind the table stood an older woman with short, permed hair. A younger assistant lingered off to the side prepping another tub of ice with rosy, pink crabs.   
  
Minji examined the woman first before checking the assistant. Her shoulders tightened. Vampire. He stared right back at her, taking her in completely before focusing on Bora. Lips parted in surprise when he saw her and quickly washed it away, returning to the show of boredom he was wearing before.   
  
“I’m here for the special,” said Bora to the woman. Quickly, she rotated her arm and flashed the tattoo.   
  
The vendor turned her eyes up to Minji before nodding over to the assistant who cocked his head for them to follow.   
  
“Move it!” Bora shoved her forward.   
  
Leaving out of the back of the market, they followed the assistant past parked cars and pickups and cargo trucks. Other vendors weaved in and out of them, carrying crates and tanks and boxes of items to be sold. Past the lot, they came up on blocks of warehouses.   
  
Minji scanned her eyes across the buildings. On one of the blocks was a metal ladder bolted into the side. Craning her neck back, Minji squinted against the sun. There, on the rooftop, she saw the shadow of a figure before it slipped around an air shaft and disappeared from view.   
  
She stiffened. Who—  
  
“All clear,” Yubin’s voice came through the comm.   
  
“Clear,” Yoohyeon echoed. “We’ll head in after you once you call clear.”  
  
Warm air embraced her as they entered a door to one of the warehouses. A long hallway stretched out with dingy, gray carpet and barren, white walls. To the left was a plane of bulletproof glass that looked into an office. A man in a crisp, button shirt and slacks nodded to the assistant as they flashed a badge fished from their pocket and kept moving.   
  
They would have to deal with the guard later.   
  
“We weren’t expecting you,” said the assistant as they continued down the corridor, glancing over his shoulder as he spoke. “The others said they hadn’t heard from you since the club.”  
  
Bora shrugged, feigning nonchalance. “The others have their assignments, I have mine.”  
  
“Oh. Right.” He craned his neck back to Minji, looking her up and down. “You plucked a pretty one.” Short fangs poked out of the assistant’s smile, tongue lapping wet around his lips as his eyes flashed red. “I bet she tastes as sweet as she looks.”  
  
Minji stiffened as Bora laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”  
  
Making a left, they entered a new hall shorter than the first. It was cold. “We’ll have to make it quick.” He stopped in front of a door and inserted his badge into the card reader that undid the lock. “Delivery should be here soon.”  
  
Pushing the door open, white, uninviting light blared at the flip of a switch. Minji squinted against it as she surveyed the room. It was small and sterile. In the center was a chrome examination fable flanked by trays of tools and bulky equipment she didn’t know what was for but from the array of needles and restraints on the table, she could only guess.   
  
“Go ahead and get her onto the—”  
  
Knuckles cracked against his nose, sending him stumbling backward, hands clutched over his face where blood began to leak.   
  
“Now would be the time to”—Bora spun to her, making a stabbing motion with her hand, knuckles dotted in black droplets—"you know?”  
  
Fumbling, Minji grabbed for a dagger and stabbed it into the assistant’s chest before he could take another step. He gasped, falling back into the wall where he slid down onto the floor.   
  
“Get his mouth open,” Minji instructed. “Head back.”  
  
One hand gripped in his hair, Bora pulled back until his eyes were to the ceiling. Fingers clawed around his chin and forced his jaws open. Pressing her knees into the assistant’s legs, Minji popped the cork out of a vial of purification waters and poured it into his gaping mouth.   
  
“Close it. Hold it until he swallows.”  
  
Teeth clinked shut. Bora held tight, waiting until she saw his throat bob and let go.   
  
“What was that?” asked Bora as they stood up.   
  
“Purification water.” Slipping the vial back into her pouch, Minji watched as the assistant began to foam at the mouth. Black pus mixed with bubbles of white slinked from his lips and down the sides of his face. “It’s a mix of metals that liquefies the insides.”   
  
She turned her eyes over to Bora who stared at the body, her jaw tight as the tension in her shoulders. The way her brow furrowed as she looked on almost made Minji feel sorry for what she did. Almost.   
  
“Where’s the blood?” Minji pressed.  
  
Bora’s neck snapped up at her. Rage flicked across her face before it was gone, replaced by a hard, blank expression.   
  
“This way.” Snatching the badge from the body, Bora took them back to the halls.   
  
“We’re in,” Minji said into the comm, running after her. “Headed to the supply now. There’s a guard inside the entrance.”  
  
“On it.”  
  
Boots squeaked on linoleum as Bora took a quick right. The hall was longer and larger than the first. Doors lined either side and a pair of heavy, metal ones sat at the very end.   
  
“Here!” Using the assistant’s badge, Bora inserted it into the card reader. Green lights flicked and bolts unlatched.   
  
Minji followed her in on her heels, lights flickering on to…  
  
A supply closet.   
  
Minji blinked. “What?” She turned slowly, brow lifting in Bora’s direction. “Bora.”  
  
“Sorry, princess.”  
  
And she was gone.   
  
“Wait!”  
  
The door slammed in Minji’s face.   
  
“Bora!”  
  
She twisted the handle. Locked.   
  
“Dammit!” She leaned her forehead against the door, one hand on her hip as she hissed over the comm. “I lost her.”  
  
“What?” Both came back.   
  
“She locked me in a closet!” Minji tried the knob again. Nothing. She kicked the door in frustration. “I don’t know where she went.”  
  
“I’ll find her,” said Yubin. “Yoohyeon, get Minji out of there.”  
  
Giving her location in the warehouse, Minji paced through the room as she waited, seething more and more with every step, anger tight in her belly. She should’ve known better. No matter how they seemed, vampires couldn't be trusted   
  
The locks unlatched and the door opened bringing Yoohyeon’s familiar face through the crack. “Come on.” She pulled off and Minji followed.   
  
“Where is she?”  
  
Yoohyeon shook her head as they jogged. “I think Yubin might’ve been on her trail—“  
  
A yell echoed to the left.  
  
“—this way!”  
  
They changed course, flying around the corner in time to see Bora go flying into the wall with the force of Yubin’s kick.   
  
Hitting the floor, she shot back up, hands bent like claws as she snarled in Yubin’s direction.   
  
“Bora!”  
  
Her neck snapped to Minji, eyes darting to each of them before she took off again.   
  
“Bora, stop!”  
  
They thundered after her, turning into another hall where a set of double metal doors made a dead end. Bora fumbled with the badge, missing the first attempt to get it into the reader. A second try slipped it in and green lights flashed.   
  
Yubin raised her crossbow.   
  
The metal door opened up.   
  
A bolt zipped through the air.  
  
Bora dropped with metal pierced through her calf, half her body stretching outside of the door. Rushing for her, Yoohyeon and Minji grabbed her ankles, yanking her back into the hallway.   
  
“Let me go!” She kicked, throwing her legs and arms in attempts to get away. “Stop! Let go of me!”  
  
Taking her wrists, Yubin attached a pair of cuffs drawn from a pouch. Weight settled over Boraas Yoohyeon kneeled on her body with her knees pressed into the vampire’s chest. The blade at the end of the barrel of one of her guns flipped out, hovering over her throat.  
  
“Stay down,” Yubin ordered. Another bolt was set in her crossbow to fire. This time it would be fatal.   
  
Minji stood back, heart raging in anger. “Give us one good reason we shouldn’t put you down right now.”  
  
Bora’s lip pulled back in a sneer, fangs visible and sharp. Her dark, red eyes made her look like a devil and for a second Minji wondered why she let herself believe that Bora was actually someone they could put even a drop of trust in.   
  
“For starters,” she grunted as Yoohyeon’s weight over her shifted, knees digging deeper into her ribs. “I found the supply.” She pointed with a finger from her hands that were restrained above her head.   
  
Minji followed the direction up to the door Bora had been trying to run into. “If you’re lying—”  
  
“I’m not!” she snarled. “I swear.”  
  
Stepping over to the door, Minji picked up the card that had dropped. The locks popped as she inserted and entered.   
  
Cold air rushed out at her, blowing her hair back out of her face. White light shined over white walls and white tile and glass. Cases and cases and cases of glass lining the walls stocked with red bags full of blood.   
  
“She’s telling the truth.” Leaving the room, Minji paced back to where Bora laid. Eyes strained as they looked up at her upside down. “Why did you run from us?”  
  
Her jaw flexed.   
  
“Answer,” Yoohyeon pressed, blade touching Bora’s neck just enough to burn.   
  
“I was hungry!” She yelled. Yoohyeon pulled the blade back and Bora spilled. “I was going to let you destroy it.” Yubin snorted and Bora rolled her eyes. _“After_ I got to feed. I thought that I wouldn’t have a chance to if I lead you here first.”  
  
Minji gawked. “So you lock me in a broom closet?”  
  
“I was desperate. Look at me!” she hissed. Minji did. She noted the faded color in her eyes. The black smudges of blood still on her. The way her cheeks were empty and the color chalky. The lack of strength she showed when they took her down. It had been too easy. “I was desperate,” she said again.   
  
Minji sighed. “Let her go.”  
  
Yoohyeon got to her feet, folding the blades of her guns back before slipping them into their holsters while Yubin lowered her crossbow.   
  
“You will get one bag,” said Minji to Bora who Yubin unceremoniously dragged across the floor and propped her against the wall, arms tethered behind her back. “Understood?”  
  
 _"Yes,”_ she groaned as the bolt was jerked out of her leg.   
  
“Yubin,” Minji looked up, “stay here and keep an eye on her. Yoohyeon, you’re with me.” Turning back to the doors, Minji let out a heavy breath. “Let’s hurry and go home.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The cells were chilly in the morning.   
  
Minji’s boots echoed off the stone steps as she descended into the corridors and weaved through the rows. She never thought about how much the place felt like a dungeon.   
  
How torches used to light the place instead of bulbs and cloaked figures with trays of experimenting tools would pick whatever vampire they had locked up and strap them down with chains and cuffs of silver that stunted their higher abilities to be able to study them. Or kill them.   
  
Minji shuddered at the thought. She didn’t know why.   
  
She slowed down as she came to the cell that held Bora who laid curled up on her side on rock and dust. She was still in the clothes from the night of the club, and if they weren’t getting information out of her, she was sleeping. She didn’t have strength to do much else. Not when they held her just on the cusp of starvation.   
  
“Hey,” Minji called.   
  
Bora rolled over. Thick lashes blinked sleep out of her eyes. She sat up, squinting up at her with eyes that were slowly fading of any and all color again.   
  
“Breakfast.” Minji sat the bottle she held in her hands down inside of the cell.   
  
Bora narrowed her eyes. “Poison?”  
  
“Blood. B-Negative if you must know. I warmed it up.” Minji shrugged at Bora’s curious furrow of the brow. “We don’t like cold meals. I didn’t think you would either.”  
  
“Is that kindness I sense?”  
  
She rolled her eyes. “It’s a peace offering. You’ve been honest so far. It’s the least I could do. But if you pull another stunt like you did at the warehouse again—”  
  
“You’ll _put me down yourself,_ ” Bora mocked her in a nasally voice. “I understand, princess.”  
  
Pushing off the floor, Bora moved with an alien grace as she got to her feet and paced over to grab the bottle. Her movements were liquid and flowing. Like a ballet dancer across a stage. Many vampires Minji had encountered were jerky. Like spiders. Bora was different though it meant little.   
  
The top spun off the bottle and Bora drank. The effects of the blood were quick. The ashen wash of her skin faded to give way to a creamy, warm, pale pink beneath her cheeks. Even her eyes seemed to glisten brighter. Like two little stars. Red giants. The color would forever be off-putting but it matched Bora well. Like the ruby red of her lipstick that night at the club. She looked perfectly human that night. Minji wondered how long it had been since she was turned.   
  
“We’re ready to go over details about the next phase,” said Minji once Bora was done.   
  
She screwed the top of the bottle back on and sat it on the ground, lapping the remnants off her mouth. It was so jarring to see her fully healed like this. She was so stunning and her scent, though faint, was alluring. Creamy. Sweet. Anyone weak would fall right into her hands.   
  
“Does this make me part of the team?” Bora gave a dramatic gasp. “Do I get a fancy leather jacket, too?”  
  
“You’ll be lucky enough if one of us doesn’t put a dagger through your chest before this is all over.”  
  
Bora laughed softly. “Good thing I’m into a little risk and reward.”  
  
Footsteps approached in heavy, familiar clicks. Yubin stuttered in her step when she found Minji there and she tightened her jaw, hands burying in her pockets as she spoke quietly.   
  
“Something triggered the Temple’s perimeter alarms. I was checking to make sure she was still behind bars.”  
  
Minji’s eyebrows lifted. “What was it?”  
  
“Vampire. The sensors caught their heat signature just inside the gates.” Yubin’s lip turned up as she cut her eyes to Bora. “Probably here for her.”  
  
Worried fluttered through Minji’s chest. “Did anyone see you at the seafood market?” She turned back to Bora who shook her head with a snort.   
  
“No one that you didn’t slaughter.”   
  
“We can’t keep her here,” said Minji to Yubin who nodded in agreement. “At least not alone and especially not overnight.”  
  
“What do you suggest?”  
  
Minji shook her head. “We’ll figure it out. Get Yoohyeon so we can go over the plans for the next mission.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The door to her apartment swung shut with a click. Each bolt set into place and Minji double checked them again. Just in case.   
  
“We’re here.”  
  
Flicking on a lamp, the light cast on Bora who stood just beyond the welcome rug, hands cuffed in front of her and eyes shrouded by a blindfold. She stood perfectly still the way Minji had instructed.   
  
She stepped slowly around the vampire, rounding to her front where she peered down. A chin tilted up in her direction, head slightly cocked as her ears picked up the subtle sounds around her.   
  
“I’m going to take off the blindfold now.”  
  
Eyes fluttered as the cloth was removed, darting one way to the other as she observed the place.   
  
The apartment was modestly sized. One bedroom but not tiny. The living room was large enough to comfortably seat a small gathering of people and the dining area held a four-seater table accompanied by a single, hanging lamp from the ceiling.   
  
The kitchen was the smallest thing about the place but Minji made do. She didn’t need a large kitchen. She didn’t need a large place at all. She was just one person and wide-open spaces were excessive when you had nothing to fill them up. It had only been her for a long time.   
  
“It’s so…” Bora drew in a long breath through her nose as she sniffed, _“you.”_  
  
Of course it was but Minji wondered what Bora picked up. What smells lingered? What was the fragrance of her skin? But even deeper, what was the flavor of her blood? What made her unique? What set her apart? Was it really that special that she would catch Bora occasionally looking down at the veins in her wrists or the one pulsing at the side of her neck or was she just a typical vampire with a hunger for any type of blood?  
  
Minji didn’t think she would ever ask. She didn’t need to know. She didn’t think she wanted to know.   
  
“You will sleep there.” Minji pointed at the couch. “You will be with me at all times. That means, if I go to the store or run any errands, you will not leave my sight. At night, you will be chained with silver. Understood?”  
  
“Whatever you say, boss.”  
  
Minji narrowed her eyes. “I’m going to take off your cuffs.”  
  
“Are you sure about that?”  
  
Bora smirked. Minji hated that smirk. The way it mocked her and the others. The way it challenged her. She was annoyingly defiant. If Bora was part of her team, she would’ve put her in her place by now. Made sure she knew who was in charge and that any step out of line would not be tolerated.   
  
But Bora wasn’t part of her team. She wasn’t even human. Soon she would get the satisfaction of shutting her up for good.   
  
“You don’t scare me,” Minji held her eyes as she unlocked the cuffs.   
  
Once they were off, Bora bolted for the door where she jerked back from the knife that made purchase in the wood beside her head. A click to the right and her skull would’ve been split.   
  
“Oh.” Bora tapped the black hilt with a nail. She chuckled as she turned up to Minji who had stepped across the room toward her. “I was just testing to see what you would do if I tried to run.”  
  
“Don’t push it.” Minji yanked the blade from the door. “And don’t test me.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am,” she purred.   
  
Minji looked down into her eyes. Even as brown they still held a sheen of red. When the light caught them just right, they glittered like garnet, a color Minji always thought was pretty. The way it contrasted with the cool, alabaster of Bora’s skin and the dark, dark black of her hair made it all the more catching. She wanted to see them at their full intensity. How they glowed. How they simmered like fire.   
  
“You should clean up.”   
  
“What? Do I stink?” Raising her arm, Bora sniffed.   
  
Rolling her eyes, Minji stepped away. “There are towels in the bathroom. I’ll set out clothes for you outside of the door.”  
  
“What if I—“  
  
“There are no windows,” she added quickly, partly amused by the laugh Bora gave at her quick wits. She quickly doused the feeling. “There’s no chance of escape.”  
  
“You know me well already.”  
  
“I wish I didn’t know you at all.”  
  
Bora feigned a gasp, hand pressing over her chest. “Do you really mean that?”  
  
“Shower. Now.”  
  
“Yes, drill sergeant, hunter, ma’am.” She laughed as she went, hips swaying until she was hidden behind the bathroom door.   
  
Minji groaned. Fingers pressing into her temples she messaged. What was she thinking? Inviting a vampire to stay in her home? Inviting _Bora._ She didn’t have to do it, she knew. There were other holding cells across the city that they could’ve moved her to. There were other options but Minji insisted. If only because they weren’t supposed to have Bora at all.   
  
The Headhunters believed they had dealt with her after questioning. But they hadn’t. And their missions to go after Sparrow hadn’t been discussed and approved either. Minji knew they wouldn’t have. The others knew it, too.   
  
The chime of her phone rang out causing Minji to flinch. Fetching the device from her pocket, she brought it to her ear.   
  
“Yoohyeon, hey.”  
  
“How is everything?”  
  
She peered over at the door to the bathroom. The faucet squeaked as Bora turned it on, rushing water drowning out her humming. “Under control.”  
  
“I don’t like her being alone with you.”  
  
“I can handle myself.”  
  
“Call if you need anything, okay? Yubin almost has the last details for our mission put together. She thinks we’ll be able to move at the end of the week.”  
  
The next phase of their mission should be easy.   
  
Sparrow was pulling funds from three sources, each of which were their own coven members that had taken over spots that humans once occupied. From there, they’d been siphoning money little by little for the use of the coven.   
  
The first to be dealt with was the head manager of a financial company. Yubin’s target. It would be a quick in and out job. Effortless.   
  
She hoped.   
  
“Thank you, Yoohyeon.”  
  
“Please, be careful.”  
  
“I always am. Get some rest, okay? I’ll see you for patrols in the morning.” Minji smiled at Yoohyeon’s yawn and let the call end as she moved to the kitchen.   
  
Water ran in the distance as she pulled things from the fridge to cook. She was starving. Lunch had been hours ago and she had foregone breakfast in order to get blood for Bora. She knew a hunter who worked at a blood bank, and though they let her have it with few questions, their scrutiny was apparent. They were in the business of letting vampires die from their wounds not prolong their existence. Even if it was for mission purposes.  
  
But they needed Bora. Minji needed her. For justice. For revenge.   
  
For peace.   
  
Water boiled and Minji picked at the bandage around her palm as she waited. It was itchy. The end came up with the scratch of her nail and she peeled it off. The skin beneath was pale around where the cut was but it had sewn together nicely. There would hardly be a scar left.   
  
It didn’t evade her how it never hurt. Or how it had healed quicker than it should have. Or how the ghost of Bora’s lips and tongue and the faint scrape of her fangs still lingered around the area. It was much different than what others who died at the hands of vampires—her parents—must’ve felt. Different from the life being drained out of you. Of your skin being ripped open like paper and your entrails being pulled out and splattered across the ground in a disgusting show of triumph.   
  
She shuddered. She would never be able to ease the images of the scene she came all those years ago out of her head.   
  
“How’s your hand?”  
  
Minji jumped despite herself, sneering at Bora who stood just outside the tile of the kitchen.   
  
She was all cleaned off now. All the dirt and grime washed away. Minji blinked. She knew the blush on Bora’s cheeks wasn’t real and the carve of her features was only a means of predatory charm but she couldn’t deny that Bora was pretty. She was beautiful. Naturally and unnaturally so.   
  
Her skin was like silk and her lips like cherries. Her eyes were clear and redder than they were before but not alarming. Her wet hair was dark and wavy, damply framing her face that still held youth that the transformation attempted to carve out.   
  
For years, Minji hadn’t allowed herself to look at these creatures this way. She only looked to observe. To calculate. The faces she had dealt with were distant memories, all come into one demonic blur. Bora may be the first that Minji didn’t readily put a dagger through. At least not yet. And now she was given the opportunity—forced to—look. She could do nothing but stare.  
  
“Does it still hurt?”  
  
“Hm?” Her brow lifted before it lowered in a furrow. She tore her eyes away from the wisp of wet hair that clung to Bora’s forehead back down to her hand. “No. It’s nearly healed.”  
  
“Thought so.”  
  
“Is that what you were trying to do before? Heal me?”  
  
“No.” She snorted a harsh drawl of a sound, shoulder leaned against the doorframe. “I was starving and your blood was—“ she stuttered, eyes darting away for a second. “It was there.”  
  
“Oh.” Moving back to the stove, Minji checked the water.   
  
“Why don’t you let me make you dinner?” said Bora. “As a peace offering.” She winked.   
  
“You can cook?”  
  
“I was human once.”  
  
That was a jarring reminder of what she was dealing with.   
  
“I can make my own food.”  
  
“Whatever.” Rolling away from the door, Bora made her way over to the couch where she dropped down.   
  
Ignoring her, Minji finished working on dinner, keeping confined to the kitchen with the occasional check to see if Bora was still there, until everything was done.   
  
She took to the dining table to eat, checking messages from the Headhunters about their next patrol and scrolling the news. There was still buzz about the club fire but very little. The investigation was wrapped up quickly, deemed a gas leak by the news. Sometimes it chilled Minji that they had hunters with legal influence who could change a story without much issue.   
  
It was necessary, she knew. To keep the people none the wiser. Another layer of safety. Still, sometimes Minji was shocked how easily lies could be sold and believed.   
  
“Can you chew any louder?” Bora complained.   
  
Just to spite her, Minji did.  
  
“You are so annoying.”  
  
“I can put you out of your misery early.” Minji looked up as she swallowed. “If that’s what you’d prefer.”  
  
Something passed across Bora’s face. It was quick. A flicker of realization. “So, that’s the plan? Get rid of me when this is all over?”  
  
“What else would I do?”  
  
“Oh.”  
  
Minji didn't know why the disappointment in Bora’s tone made her feel guilty for a moment. But only a moment. “I am a hunter.”  
  
“Got it.”  
  
“Letting you go would be against everything—“  
  
“I said, I got it.” Bora cut her off.   
  
Minji pursed her lips and sat her chopsticks down. She suddenly didn’t have an appetite anymore. It was late and she was tired. Bora wasn’t the type of company she wanted to keep and now she was stuck with her.   
  
“Stay put while I get the cuffs,” she grumbled, getting up.   
  
Bora shrugged, waving a hand in the air at her. “Yeah, yeah.”  
  
Minji’s jaw tightened. The urge to march her back down to the cells was strong. Or maybe put a muzzle on her to keep her quiet.   
  
“Well?” Bora sneered over the back of the couch. “Hurry up and chain me, master. We don’t have all night.”  
  
Minji bristled as she went to fetch the cuffs from the case of equipment beneath her bed.   
  
She couldn’t wait for this to be over.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The financial building stretched high, glass windows gleaming in the light of the sun. Minji watched the reflection of an airplane move across the thirty-sixth story. That was their aim for the mission.   
  
“Yubin?” she said into the comm, turning around to the opposite side of the street, eyeing the building across the street. An LED screen flashed across its face, playing advertisements. On the roof above it was Yubin. Though Minji couldn’t see her, she knew she was there setting up the last pieces of equipment.   
  
“Team tiny here,” Bora’s voice came back.   
  
Minji sighed. She didn’t want to leave Bora with Yubin but she didn’t have a choice. Leaving her at the apartment was too high a risk and returning her to the cells was a chance they didn’t want to take. The safest place for her to be was with one of them. With Yubin she supplied a second pair of eyes and out of sight of coven members that might be looking for her.   
  
The latter detail was a growing concern. There was no way of Minji knowing who could’ve seen Bora with them.   
  
“This is Yubin,” her darker-toned voice took over. Minji heard her hiss at Bora to sit down and stay put before coming back to her. “I’ll be ready once you have him in position.”  
  
“I’ll head up soon. Yoohyeon?”   
  
She waited, holding her breath in the few seconds of silence before receiving a hushed response. In the background, she could hear the chatter of voices and a high pitched ding.   
  
“Just stepped into the elevator.”  
  
Her role was to pose as a new graduate applying for an assistant intern position, interview set up for the top of the hour with their target.   
  
Ducking back into the car, Minji discarded the rest of her equipment, ridding of any items that could be seen as weapons. The building’s security system was tight. A metal detector was followed by stationed guards there to pat down and wand anyone who triggered the alarms.   
  
Yubin was their one shot. Minji and Yoohyeon were there to make sure their target was in position.  
  
Pulling on a blazer, Minji did up the buttons and slinked up a large purse that rested on her shoulder. The first layer of disguise would get her into the building, blending into the other pantsuits and polished businessmen who weaved in and out of the door.   
  
Heels clicked against the ground as Minji headed for the crosswalk and began her way toward the entrance. Passing windows of neighboring businesses, she doubled checked her guise, making sure—  
  
“Oh!” A body bumped into her, jostling her backward.   
  
Big, brown eyes from a young, rounded face blinked up at her in apology. “Sorry!” she said around the candy of a sucker.   
  
Minji recovered quickly, bending over to pick up the girl’s phone that had fallen out of her hand. “It’s okay. No harm done. See?”  
  
The girl smiled, eyes creasing. With a bow, she slipped a pair of bulky headphones back over her ears and hurried away.  
  
Minji paused to watch her go, throwing her hand up in a wave when she turned back to toss another apology. Strange.   
  
“What was that?” asked Yubin.   
  
“Nothing.” She started forward again.   
  
She slipped through the doors easily with no alarms triggered. Security guards greeted her with nods and she returned them with a smile and breezed by the information counter, joining the rest of the workers hurrying about.   
  
From the floor plans they had each reviewed and memorized, Minji cut away from the lobby and made her way into an alcove where she found the door for custodial supplies.   
  
She checked over her shoulders before slipping inside, lock snapping into place. Unbuttoning her blazer, she took it off leaving her in a navy button-down over a long-sleeved shirt. A baseball cap pulled from her purse settled over her hair that pulled back into a bun and she traded slacks for a pair of jeans.   
  
Business wear folded, she placed it in her bag and stuffed it into one of the shelves between rolls of paper towels in boxes and soap dispenser replacements.   
  
A fake name tag from her pocket fastened over the left side of her chest and grabbed for various cleaning supplies, stacking them on top of a cart stocked with trash cans and bags and wipes and sprays.   
  
“I’m in,” she said into the comm, crouching down to tie the laces of a pair of converse. “Yoohyeon, I’m headed your way.”  
  
Taking in a breath, Minji readied herself, falling into character as she undid the lock and stepped out of the closet. The wheels on the cart rumbled as she pushed it down the hall, passing by faces that hardly cast her a look.   
  
Fuzz crackled over the comm before Yoohyeon’s voice took over. “Interview begins in five minutes.”  
  
Perfect.   
  
Trailing across the lobby, Minji joined the next group headed up on the elevator and tapped the desired floor. She stood back, allowing bodies to wax and wane out of the door as the lift steadily climbed. Her foot tapped against the hardwood, nerves starting to get to her.   
  
On the thirty-sixth floor, the elevator dinged. Minji pushed the cart out, examining the number plates on the doors as she went. Turning a corner, she caught sight of Yoohyeon as she stepped into the office with the ushering hand of the vampire.   
  
“She’s inside.”   
  
A passing suit tossed her a look. Minji turned away and grabbed the handle of a broom off the cart and began to sweep. She checked the clock sticking out from where it hung close to the ceiling. She would give it a few minutes before entering.  
  
“I’m in position,” came Yubin’s voice. “You’ll need to get the far left window clear.”  
  
“Copy.”   
  
“Can you really shoot him from here?” Bora’s voice crackled.   
  
Minji ignored her and focused back on the clock. Ten minutes had passed. “I’m moving in.”  
  
Replacing the broom, she pushed the cart down to the office. Knuckles wrapped at the door before she let herself in. The vampire looked up at her, caught mid-discussion. Yoohyeon followed his stare, easily putting on a show of surprise at the intrusion.   
  
“Sorry,” said Minji, bowing. “May I grab your trash?”  
  
“Now really isn’t the time.”  
  
“It will only be a moment.”  
  
His lips pursed. “Very well. Make it quick.”  
  
With another bow, Minji stepped deeper into the room as he continued.   
  
“Your resume is impressive.”  
  
Yoohyeon beamed, straightening out higher in her hard-backed chair. “Thank you, sir!”  
  
“Gross,” Bora gagged.   
  
“Shut up our I’ll assassinate you next.” Yubin deadpanned. “Minji. The window.”  
  
Lifting the bag out of the trash can, Minji eyed the long, dark shades pulled down over the windows that took up the back of the office. Dangling on the side of each panel was a beaded, metal pull string.   
  
The conversation behind her faded into the background as Minji quickly set a new bag into the can and grabbed a duster from her cart. Coming up on the window, she began dusting at the shades and grabbed one of the pull strings.   
  
The shade lifted with a tug, casting bright, yellow light into the office.   
  
“Excuse me.” The vampire turned around. Sunlight filled out his face, setting in his eyes just right to bring on the hidden red hidden beneath swirls of brown. “Would you please—”   
  
Whistling through the glass, a crossbow bolt struck the vampire between the eyes, snapping his head backward on impact.   
  
_“Shit,”_ Yubin cursed.  
  
Minji sucked in a breath, gaze shooting to Yoohyeon who watched in horror as the vampire’s neck rolled around, bringing his head back up. Fingers hooked around the arrow and yanked it out with a wet sound.   
  
“You missed.”   
  
Fangs spiked with a growl. Flying out of his seat, he charged with red eyes blazing.   
  
“Minji!” Yoohyeon yelled. Darting over the desk, she jumped for the vampire’s back.   
  
He rounded on her before she could even reach him and shoved, sending her backward over the desk and crashing to the floor where she rolled.   
  
Whipping back around, he shot off the balls of his feet. Minji ducked and hands grabbed, slinking around her waist and forcing her back up, arching her back against his front.   
  
She struggled, ramming her elbow again and again into his ribs with no result. Chilly breath lapped at the side of her neck as he leaned her head to the side with his own, wet tongue licking at the soft skin over the thick of a pulsing vein.   
  
“Minji,” Yubin whispered. “Turn.”  
  
Finding her footing, she dug her heels into the carpet and pushed, pivoting them around just in time to feel the impact of another bolt strike through the vampire’s back.   
  
“Got’em.”   
  
Arms went limp and he crumbled to the ground in a heap.   
  
“Yoohyeon!” Racing across the office, Minji dropped to where Yoohyeon was on the floor. Pulling her into her lap, she darted over her with her eyes, searching for injuries. “Are you hurt?”  
  
“Just my pride.” She smiled.  
  
Minji sighed in relief. “Oh, thank god.” Facing dropping into Yoohyeon’s chest, she breathed her in.   
  
“That was too close,” her voice rumbled against Minji’s ear.   
  
“Yeah.” She laughed, breaking the uneasiness in her chest. “Yeah, it was.”  
  
“I’m packing up,” said Yubin. “Let’s go home.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Moonlight touched green, lighting up the eyes of a cat that passed through the darkness. Rain drizzled, falling in tiny needles, stirring up the stink of garbage and exhaust. Minji flicked the wipers on, clearing off the windshield, eyes trained on the back door of the casino where the car idled behind the building.   
  
Their target was the owner, a vampire who adopted the shady dealings of the man who occupied the position before. Except the money he stole from rigged games and cheated out of customers went to something much more dangerous than funding elaborate vacations abroad and sports cars added to a garage.   
  
“I’m bored,” Bora whined from where she was sprawled along the backseat. Feet kicked up, she stretched, prodding at the cloth ceiling with the toe of her boot.   
  
Wipers streaked again. Minji squinted. Still no sign of the others. She was getting worried.  
  
The plan was to get into the offices and get the owner alone. Whatever means possible. From there, they’d bring him out of the back where Minji waited with the getaway car and dispose of the body accordingly.   
  
It shouldn’t take this long.   
  
“Hello?”  
  
A finger poked her in the ear. Minji swatted it away. “Cut it out.”  
  
“Entertain me.”  
  
“No!” She flipped over her phone and checked for any messages. The last one she got was from Yoohyeon informing her that gambling wasn’t Yubin’s strong suit.   
  
Minji sighed. Without comms, it made it difficult to communicate as effectively as they’d like but the signal surrounding the building was weak. The connection had cut off soon after the other two entered. Minji would just have to wait.   
  
“So,” Bora spoke up again, her voice louder than the crack of thunder that sounded in the distance. The passenger seat groaned as she leaned against the back of it, face smashed up against the headrest. “How long have you been on this hunter gig?”  
  
Minji dropped her phone back into her lap, eyes shutting for a moment as she reeled in the flare of irritation that threatened to expose.   
  
“This isn’t a gig,” she said, lips tight. “My family is one of the oldest hunter bloodlines.”  
  
“Have you ever tried _not_ following in your parent's footsteps? You know, being normal? Doing what you want to do?”  
  
Minji found her eyes in the rearview mirror. “This is what I want to do.”  
  
“Even when you were a kid?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“What if you weren’t a hunter?” Seats whined and leather squeaked as Bora began to climb her way through the small space between the seats to get into the front. An elbow narrowly missed Minji’s face and she gripped onto Bora’s arm, pulling her the rest of the way. Bora landed in the seat with an ungraceful plop. “What if you were like everyone else who didn’t know we existed? What would you do?”  
  
Minji opened her mouth to answer when she paused, teeth clicking shut. She hadn’t thought about it.   
  
She had known her entire life she would be a hunter and so she thought of nothing other than being a hunter. She remembered seeing all the others. The clan leaders who exuded power and demanded respect just by walking into a room. The Headhunters in their uniforms of black and iron and garnet who never seemed to be phased by anything. The High Council, regal and intimidating and wise.   
  
Minji had been a timid child. Easily spooked. Knowing vampires existed used to scare her until she was old enough to understand what her parents really did. What the hunters before them did to keep everyone safe and Minji would grow up and be part of that, too. She would keep people safe.   
  
That’s when she stopped being scared. She learned to be tough so that on her Day of Ascending she would be able to complete the ritual that would begin her hunter’s training.  
  
“I don’t know,” she admitted.   
  
Bora’s dark eyebrows lifted. “Nothing?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Not even college?” She turned, pulling her legs up to cross in the chair while her back propped against the door. Lightning flashed behind her, creating a halo around her head. “Getting hammered at parties? All-nighters? Getting laid on your first date?”  
  
Heat blossomed on the back of Minji’s neck. She fluttered her lashes away, fumbling with her phone out of a spike in embarrassment and no aims to actually use the device. “The hunters attend their own private academy. Many of us only attend a university for means of serving the clan.”  
  
Like becoming doctors or lawyers or any profession that could benefit the clan. All else wasn’t necessary though few did pursue more after graduating from the academy that easily passed off as homeschooling to the general public.   
  
Along with the curriculum of everyday school, they were taught the history of hunters, courses on vampires, self-defense, and various forms of combat. Weapons training, endurance training, tactical techniques, and general first-aid. Some excelled in certain fields over others—like Yoohyeon with first aid and Yubin with tactical techniques—and teams were often constructed by combining those who had a varied set of skills to make the perfect, solid team.  
  
Thinking about attending a university and doing the things she saw people do on the few dramas she had watched was unthinkable. Foreign. She didn’t see a point. Being reckless and irresponsible that way was looked down upon. They were taught discipline and loyalty. They were here to serve a purpose and that purpose—the purpose of keeping the human population safe—was more important than a childish desire to end up blackout drunk in your friend’s living room.   
  
“I didn’t know basement school could be so posh.”  
  
Minji furrowed her brow. “Basement?”  
  
“It’s a joke, princess. Learn to take one.”  
  
“I can take a joke.” Bora snorted. Minji scoffed. “What about you? How long have you been a vampire?”  
  
“A while.” Her eyes narrowed, shoulders winding tight.   
  
“And your parents?”  
  
“It’s going to take a lot more leveling up to unlock the tragic backstory.”  
  
Minji flexed her jaw, biting back another wave of irritation. “Whatever. I don’t really care.”  
  
“Then why did you ask?”  
  
“You started it.”  
  
Bora shrugged.   
  
“Are they dead?” asked Minji.   
  
Bora quirked an eyebrow. “Are yours?”  
  
“Yes.”  
  
“Ouch.”  
  
“By Sparrow.”  
  
Bora’s mouth parted. There was surprise on her face before it whisked away and she looked smug. “No wonder.”  
  
“I don’t know if it was then exactly but one of the vampires that night had that.” She jutted her chin to the tip of the ink on Bora’s arm that peeked out from a pushed up sleeve. She didn’t miss the way Bora went rigid. “What does it mean?”  
  
“It means that we belong to Sparrow,” she mumbled, pulling at her sleeve to cover the tattoo up. “That we showed enough loyalty to be branded.”  
  
“Figures.”  
  
 _“Figures,”_ Bora mocked.   
  
“Helping hunters isn’t really a shining show of loyalty,” she shot back.   
  
Bora shrugged but it didn’t hold the same nonchalance she normally held. It was showy. Dismissive. Cloaking something beneath the surface that she didn’t want to express. “I do what I have to do to survive.”  
  
Spinning in the seat, she threw her legs back down to the floor and leaned against the door with an elbow, ending the conversation there. Minji watched out of the corner of her eye. Eyes stared out the rain-streaked window, the corner of her bottom lip pulled between her teeth that she chewed.   
  
“What’s taking so long?” Bora grumbled after a few minutes passed.   
  
“I don’t know.” Minji checked the time again.   
  
An hour and a half.   
  
Grabbing her phone, she was ready to send another message when the back door of the casino flew open. Yoohyeon and Yubin stumbled out into the drizzly darkness, the vampire hanging between the both of them as they struggled to carry most of his weight.   
  
Minji jumped out of the car. “What happened?”  
  
“Fucker put his hand up Yoo’s skirt,” said Yubin through her teeth.   
  
The body hit the pavement with a wet smack as they let him go, limbs sprawling out on either side of him. The entire front of this crisp, dress shirt was a mess of black, bullet holes decorating his torso.   
  
Yoohyeon winced as she leaned over on her knees, taking in drags of air as she panted, silver strands stuck to her forehead glossy from sweat and rain. “Maybe I got a little trigger happy?”   
  
“A little?” Bora gawked. She had that look again. The one Minji saw in the warehouse of the seafood market. A conflicted mix of anger and hurt. Minji could hear it in the growl of her words. “If you were going for swiss cheese, you’re spot on.”  
  
“I prefer fillet mignon,” Yubin countered. “Right off the grill.”  
  
Bora opened her mouth to retort.   
  
“Cut it out.” Minji threw out her hand catching her by the shoulder before she could take a step toward her teammate. A lip pulled back over fangs as Bora sneered at Yubin’s haughty smirk. Minji sighed. “Get him in the trunk. We’ve lost enough time already.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The rain had picked up by the time they reached the woods.   
  
Minji knew them well. It was in these woods that she and all the hunters had their Day of Ascending. A day she would never forget. It was the day she learned what it felt like to insert iron and draw blood—learned what it truly meant to be a hunter. A savior.   
  
She was only eleven and for the first time, Minji thought about what a normal girl at eleven would’ve been doing. They would know nothing of fangs or iron. They wouldn’t have old, ancient texts to read and study and memorize every night. There wouldn't be training that left knuckles bruised and muscles aching.   
  
They would be doing things like Minji saw them do when they passed parks or went to malls or filtering out of the front of school buildings with their backpacks on and waving to teachers, catching hands with parents who waited for them out front. Having picnics in the with family and friends. Playing dress up as princesses and knights. Marking up sidewalks in chalk in bright colors of butterflies and sunsets and stick figures labeled as their best friends.   
  
Minji didn’t grow up like that. She didn’t live like that now.   
  
She didn’t like that Bora’s question was making her think—making her ask. What would she do? Who would she be? Her interests were things second to what she was called to do. The fun she had with Yubin and Yoohyeon would always be cut short in favor of missions and training and patrols. The desires of her heart, the ones that stirred when she thought of the warmth of her parents, the other Headhunters and their families, came second to the heart she had for putting her duty and the people she loved before herself and her own pleasures.   
  
But...  
  
Her eyes shifted to Bora who walked beside her, head down and arms crossed over her chest. Feeling her stare, Bora looked up. Minji quickly turned away and trained her eyes on Yubin and Yoohyeon who lead the way with the vampire.   
  
...what _if_ she wasn’t a hunter? What if she was something different?  
  
Slowing down, they stepped through the last thicket of trees that opened up to the clearing of the Burning Grounds.   
  
Where history books talked of Salem Witch Trials, the old hunter manuscripts spoke of the Cleansings. When hunters put vampires to death by burning at the stake. In the Burning Grounds they stood now, one of those stakes still stood. It was a tall, thick piece of wood. A reminder of what had happened there and a reminder that there was a way to defeat evil.  
  
Methods had changed since but the fire remained. Being that an iron stakedagger through the heart only immobilized them, fire was the only sure way that a vampire could be destroyed other than severing all of their parts.   
  
In the clearing were three stone coffins partially raised off the ground by four stone pillars. Each coffin was longer than it was wide, fashioned with heavy tops that took two to push aside, and squared holes carved out of the sides.  
  
Minji kept her eyes on Bora as Yubin and Yoohyeon opened one of the coffins and lifted the vampire’s body into it. Her expression was unreadable as the stone cover was shifted back into place and matches shuffled in a box that Yubin pulled from her pouch.  
  
Fire danced on the tip as she slipped it into one of the carved out spaces on the side of the coffin and stood back. The fire began slowly, taking its time to spread along cloth before it took to flesh.   
  
Yoohyeon winced, reaching up to clutch at her shoulder and Yubin moved over to her. Minji could hear her soft voice asking if Yoohyeon was okay. If she was hurt anywhere else, gentle fingers testing the spot she was favoring on her shoulder.  
  
“She needs first aid,” said Yubin, walking over to where Minji was. “We’re going to head back to the car.”  
  
Minji nodded. Leading Yoohyeon away, the two disappeared in the trees along with their hushed voices. Her focus drifted back to the coffin and over to the space that Bora once occupied. She had moved across the clearing, standing in the shadow of the stake that cast across the damp ground in the light of the moon that fought through dark clouds. Minji paced over to her slowly.   
  
“We’ll be going soon,” she said. Her voice was like thunder in the quiet and the look in Bora’s eyes when she turned to her was as striking as the lightning that flashed above.   
  
“Have you ever tried not killing vampires?”  
  
Minji blinked, taken aback. “Why would I want to do that?”  
  
“I don’t know what your history books say, but I’ve seen enough to know that they’re all wrong.”  
  
“And how is that?”  
  
“Look at this”—she threw her hand toward the stake—"have you ever once thought that maybe we weren’t _all_ monsters? Not all of us had a choice.”  
  
“Then isn’t what we do merciful? Releasing those who didn’t have a choice from what they were forced to become?”  
  
Bora coughed out a sardonic laugh. “Just because we have fangs doesn’t mean we forget our morals.” She rounded on her, tongue fierce. “We still have families and friends. Ones that will realize that the kid they knew isn’t aging anymore and are forced to leave and go into hiding.” She huffed, voice squeaking out higher. “Isn’t that suffering enough?”  
  
Minji glared. She didn’t like the accusatory way Bora was speaking to her or the way it stirred up uneasy waves in her gut. “I know the things your kind have done.”  
  
“And I’ve seen your kind burn one of my friends from the inside out!” She growled.   
  
Minji stepped back, taken by the force in the way Bora looked at her. Her eyes cut, letting guilt seep into places that had been filled with offense. She couldn’t stop it this time. Not when she knew exactly what Bora was talking about. Not when she had seen the way Bora ached at the sight of the vampire that they took down at the warehouse.   
  
Minji wondered what she would’ve done if the roles were switched. Would she be able to put away one of her own friends? Would she have been able to sit there and watch and aid in an act that she knew would break her heart?   
  
She didn’t know. But she knew one thing. That whatever Bora was fighting for outweighed her decision even if it did hurt. Minji wondered what it was. She wondered what Bora could want so badly that she’d let her own friends—members of her coven—suffer at the hands of hunters.   
  
That thought made her hurt for Bora. If only a second.   
  
Minji drew her crossed over her chest, canceling the shock in her face with indifference. “If you hate it so much, why don’t you leave? There are places where your kind are accepted.”  
  
“I shouldn’t have to leave my home to survive,” she bit. “And maybe we shouldn’t exist but no one should have the power to decide that for us.”  
  
A shoulder bumped roughly into hers as Bora walked off.  
  
“Bora, wait.” Minji grabbed for her wrist. A hand slapped it away, the force of it causing her to stumble back.  
  
Minji held her eyes on her, watching her disappear through the trees to the backdrop of night and licks of fire raging against stone.  
  
Fist balled at Minji’s sides, nails pricking into her palms as she fought to catch her temper. To reel in the swirl of emotions that raged in her like the tides, crashing up against one another in a conflicting mess of confusion.   
  
Her gaze shifted back to the stake, eyes trailing the tall, splintered piece of wood, air leaving her lungs in a heavy sigh.   
  
She didn’t like it.   
  
She didn’t like that maybe…  
  
Maybe Bora was right.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Flipping down the visor, Minji checked her hair in the mirror.   
  
“Where are the others?”  
  
“I gave them the assignment off. It’s you and me today.”  
  
The last to be taken out was a vampire who had stolen the place of a pastor. Members of the congregation trailed the sidewalk and took to the path up to the entrance. Men in nice suits and button-downs and shiny shoes while women had their hair done neat with modest dresses and pearls and heels.   
  
Minji tugged at the skirt of her floral printed dress, straightening out a wrinkle. It felt odd not to be in her normal leathers with her weapons belt slung across her chest. She felt naked and exposed without her twin blades. The only protection she had were three daggers held in a hoster around her left thigh and her revolver on her right. In a clutch, she had a vial of purification water and another of crushed silver but that was it.   
  
There was no room for error.   
  
“You look fine, princess, stop poking at your face.”  
  
Minji slapped the visor shut with a glare over at Bora. She was in a simple, pale lavender dress and a white cardigan, her onyx hair lightly curled over her shoulders. Minji hadn’t seen her in anything other than black and jeans and tees that were supplied to her from a closet full of items that hardly fit her small frame.   
  
Minji was surprised the dress fit. She looked good in it. Cute.   
  
Ugh. No, she didn’t.   
  
“Do I look okay?” asked Bora, pulling Minji’s thoughts out of the pits it had dipped. “Do I look virginal enough?” She gave a dramatic flutter of the lashes. “Good enough to defile?”  
  
Minji pursed her lips. She wasn’t going to answer that. “Let’s go.”  
  
Slinking out of the car, they headed for the entrance of the church and stepped into the foyer fanned with people. An usher handed them an announcement flier. Minji balled it up and tossed it into the nearest trash can.   
  
“Sit in front of me so I can see you,” she whispered just loud enough for Bora to hear.   
  
Bora entered first. Waiting a few seconds, Minji followed a wave of people who entered in front of her into the hall and slipped into one of the pews.   
  
Up ahead she could see Bora sitting closer to the front, blending in perfectly with the neatly made up attendees. No one paid her any attention. No one except for the pastor who soon took to the platform and stood behind the pulpit. His eyes scanned across the congregation, taking in everyone but his gaze lingered on Bora.   
  
Perfect.   
  
Minji leaned back against the pew, mind calculating. Her finger tapped impatiently against the clutch she held in her lap, feeling the bulk of the vials inside. The straps around either of her thighs started to feel constricting. She itched to pull one of her weapons out. To flick one of the daggers across the room knowing she wouldn’t miss her mark in his chest.  
  
She waited.   
  
Through songs and prayers and dismissal speeches. Bodies lifted as the service ended, hall filling up with the chatter of voices as attendees began to mingle. Bora turned over her shoulder, finding Minji easily.   
  
“Stay,” she mouthed and got up, following the stream of the crowd through the doors into the foyer where she lingered.   
  
Through the glass windows in the doors, she could see inside of the hall. Attendees shared words and smiles and hugs with the pastor who bid them each goodbye until only he and Bora were left.   
  
Dark eyes flashed red as he looked to her and Bora stood, moving into the center aisle where he greeted her with a deep bow. Minji’s eyebrows lifted. That was odd.  
  
Mouths moved as they began to speak and Bora sauntered past him toward the stage making it so that his back was angled toward the door.   
  
“Good job,” Minji said under her breath.   
  
Retrieving the revolver from beneath her skirt, she held it firm in her palm, finger hooked over the trigger. A hand braced against the door as she took in a breath. Then another. With a third one, she pushed it open.   
  
Bora saw her first before a second pair of unnatural eyes turned to her.   
  
Minji raised the gun, aim set to kill.   
  
She pulled the trigger.   
  
The bullet shot through the wooden pulpit on the stage, missing the body that had dropped to the ground, taking Bora with them.   
  
“Come on!” he shouted, yanking Bora up by the arm.  
  
Minji shot after them but they were too quick. She sprinted, following their path through a side door that led into a hallway. Footsteps echoed up ahead and she chased after, gun at the ready. A sharp left, she caught the swinging shut of a door and she raced in, stuttering to a stop in the middle of a room run with tables draped in white tablecloths and chairs.   
  
Blindly reaching out with one hand, Minji felt for a light switch and flicked it on. It was quiet. Muscles coiled, she stepped deeper into the room, rotating the gun to match where her eyes fell.   
  
There wasn’t much else inside. Pictures and plaques hanging on the walls. The statue of the crucifixion in one of the corners. A set of brown, double doors with a padlock sat in one of the walls hanging with a celebratory banner hanging above in faded, pastel colors.   
  
Across the way was a doorframe that seemed to lead into a kitchen. Open windows were cut out with ledges of a serving station. Lowering her gun, Minji made her way toward—  
  
A shadow shot yo from beneath a table bringing fangs and red eyes.   
  
Minji took a shot, bullet singing through the navy fabric of the vampire’s shoulder before the swipe of a hand knocked the gun out of her grip. Metal clattered harshly to the floor. Heavy weight forced her backward, slamming her hard into the wall, rattling her bones.   
  
Minji kicked, heel stabbing into the vampire's thigh who snarled and picked her up with the ease of a feather. She screamed as she was tossed, body coming into contact with one of the tables that toppled over as she flew off the other side and rolled across the ground.   
  
She groaned as pain shot through her, attacking every single point of contact. She didn’t have time to think about it. Fumbling for a dagger, she took one up just as the vampire came flying at her over the table, nails scratching at her cheek before they were sent backward.   
  
From beneath the tables, Minji saw him crumple to the floor. A foot came down, meaning to strike for his face. A hand caught around the ankle and yanked, bringing Bora down with a hiss.  
  
“Bora—“ Minji gasped.   
  
Her neck snapped her way, finding her from under the table. A smirk crossed her lips only to be erased by a snarl when a hand gripped her around the neck and picked her up.  
  
“Traitor!” The vampire roared in her face, holding her suspended in the air. Bora clawed at the hand around her throat, feet kicking beneath her. “I didn’t want to believe them when they said you were working with hunters.”  
  
Minji pushed off the ground, easing herself up onto unsteady legs.   
  
“You deserve to burn,” he snapped. “Just like the rest of them!”  
  
“Bora!” Minji screamed as a hand went through her stomach.   
  
Crimson eyes went wide. Blood splattered out, spilling along the front of her dress and staining the vampire’s suit. Black bloomed across her mouth and oozed from lips parted in shock.   
  
Minji let her dagger fly.   
  
The vampire hollered as the iron went through his back and buried down to the hilt. Seeing Minji, he tossed Bora aside like a doll and spun around.   
  
“You!”  
  
Minji braced for his bulldozing advance, letting it plunge the quickly unsheathed dagger into his chest. She held it there as he sent them into another table that collapsed on impact.   
  
Wood splintered beneath her back and her head bounced hard on the floor, striking white across her vision that blurred.   
  
She blinked, fighting against the splotches of black that blinded her. She could barely breathe. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t move.   
  
Fangs stretched out to their fullest length before her face. A hand curled into the front of her dress and pulled her up, arms dangling back behind her. Her head fell back, exposing her neck to—  
  
A crack.   
  
Minji dropped back down. The weight that blanketed over her disappeared and she blinked again, trying to fight through the haze. She found Bora’s face above her, smeared and pale.   
  
“Hey,” she called through a mouth of black. “Hey, we—” she sputtered, blood dripping from her lips. “We have to— go—” she crumbled, falling into Minji. Arms shook as she tried to push back up to no avail. She was too weak. She lost too much blood. “Minji...I—“  
  
“Shh,” Minji hissed, silencing her. She needed to keep her strength. “I got you.” She turned to the side. On the splinters of broken wood laid the vampire, neck swiveled at a sickening degree. “You’re going— we’re going to get out of here.”  
  
“Make it fast.” Was the last thing Bora said before she went limp.   
  
Minji closed her eyes.   
  
They were going to be alright.  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Muscles ached.   
  
Everything ached.  
  
Minji used the rest of her strength to get them back to her apartment.   
  
“We’re almost there,” she grunted. Fumbling with her keys, she slotted one into the lock on her door and used her weight to push it open.   
  
She stumbled forward, rushing to catch her bearings and Bora’s weight that was draped around her neck to keep from falling.   
  
Kicking the door shut with her foot, she dragged Bora the rest of the way across the room and deposited her onto the couch where she bounced. Knees hit the rug where Minji crouched beside her.  
  
“I’m going to check your wounds,” she warned before pulling up the remains of Bora’s tattered shirt.   
  
It was hard to see anything through the canvas of black that smeared across her stomach. The gash where the vampire had driven his hand through had nearly sewn up but not completely. Bubbles of glossy, dark, dark violet oozed out around the worst of it.   
  
“How do I look, doc?”  
  
A lip worried between Minji’s teeth, eyes casting up to catch Bora’s colorless ones. Heavy eyelids gave a long, laboring blink. She’d been fading in and out the entire way from the church.   
  
Minji couldn’t believe they made it. She should’ve called the others. At least Yubin. The plan had fallen to pieces. There was clean up to be done to erase their footprint that she didn’t have the energy to deal with. Soon she _would_ have to call the others. She wished she didn’t.   
  
“I need to—” Bora stretched out her fingers, pads landing on Minji’s shoulder. She hadn’t noticed that Bora’s nails were painted before in flaked, deep red polish. “Blood...I need— I need to feed.”  
  
Minji’s chest fluttered remembering the last time she had given her blood.   
  
“I don’t know…” she wasn’t strong enough herself. The encounter had nearly taken it all out of her.   
  
The back of her head still pulsed where it cracked against the floor and there was a bruising pain between her shoulder blades nicked with scars from the splintered table.   
  
“Minji, please.” Fingers crawled across her shoulder until they touched her neck, pressing softly against her vein. She stared at the spot, tongue dragging out across chapped lips. “I promise not to bite.”  
  
Minji tried not to think about the way her hand easily reached for her discarded sheath on the coffee table and slipped out a knife. The sleek, black blade was clean and sharp.   
  
She felt eyes watching her as she placed it against the juncture at the side of her neck. It stung worse than the last time as she sliced, instantly feeling blood rise to the surface. Bora lifted enough to drape one arm over Minji’s shoulder while the hand of the other curled into the front of her dress, drawing her closer.   
  
Minji gasped as she jerked forward, fighting the natural reaction to push Bora away—to withdraw from the cold licks of breath that touched her skin. Neck falling to the side she closed her eyes.   
  
“Whatever you do,” Bora hummed against her neck with the feather touch of a mouth. “Don’t move.”  
  
Lips attached and Minji tightened her jaw to hold back a whimper when Bora began to suck. It was rougher this time. Needy. Desperate. She felt Bora shake and Minji tucked an arm beneath her to ease the strain she was putting on herself to stay upright.   
  
The sounds Bora made as she ate were loud and damp. The prod of her tongue was fiercely noticeable, each stab sending a new prickle of pain through Minji’s neck. She breathed heavily through her nose, trying not to think about the way Bora whimpered through swallows, and a groan vibrated against her collar.   
  
“Bora,” Minji muttered, weakness catching up to her. Fangs grazed lightly and she panicked. “Bora, no more.”  
  
She detached with a wet smack, cool breath striking the side of her neck as Bora panted, harsh and ragged. The hand curled in the front of her shirt flexed and Minji waited, sensing the tension coiled in the vampire’s body.   
  
“Bora?”  
  
“I’m—” A growl rumbled in her throat as she pushed herself further back. “I’m in control.”  
  
“Are you sure?” Minji could see her face now. Warmth slowly began to seep back into her cheeks and her eyes were bright, juicy red.   
  
She licked her lips. Minji tried not to think about how the blood there was her own. Or how Bora seemed to relish in the taste of it as she drew her bottom lip in to suck what she hadn’t lapped away.   
  
“Yes.” She took in a long, steadying breath, eyes shifting back to the cut on Minji’s neck. “Let me close the wound.”  
  
“Are you sure?”.   
  
“I can do this.”  
  
A gentle tug brought her back into the fate of a vampire. The strokes of her tongue were long and lazy but purposeful. She left not a portion of the cut untouched, running over it a few times with the tip of her tongue before using the flat thickness of it.   
  
Goosebumps spread across Minji’s skin as Bora unknowingly grazed over her pulse point. She wasn’t quick enough to choke her moan. The sound startled her and she pulled back on Bora’s hair, yanking her out of the crook of her neck.   
  
Ruby red eyes looked up at her from where Bora cradled back in the arm Minji had weaved behind her. She was so light. It was a wonder her bones were so hard and there was death in her jaws and her hands.   
  
Long lashes fluttered in a blink and a tongue swiped out to clean the residue of blood from around a pink mouth. She was glowing all over again. Delicious to the smell like honey and cream. Minji couldn’t help herself this time. She drank in her fragrance. It reminded her of summertime. Of laughs and warmth. She barely felt the unnatural cold of Bora’s skin. Not against her own that was blazing, heart beating wildly against her chest.   
  
Colored eyes dropped to her mouth and Minji tensed when they wavered there a second too long.   
  
“I should clean up now,” Bora muttered.   
  
Minji cleared her throat. “I’ll get you clothes.”  
  
She waited for Bora to be done before she secured her cuffs and chains and went off to shower.   
  
The water burned in its frigidness, cold needles striking her aching skin. Bracing an arm against the wall, Minji leaned her forehead against it, eyes fluttering shut.   
  
She could feel the effects of blood loss. Faint, but it was there. It made her already heavy body sluggish. Made her sag under the weight of exhaustion. The cut on the side of her neck pulsed but it didn’t ache. It was the only part of her that didn’t ache. But it was the one thing that made her confused. The one she put it there for made her confused.  
  
And Minji couldn’t seem to put together exactly why that was. Her thoughts were jumbled, swirling in her skull like the water washing down the drain.   
  
Bandaging the cut, Minji got dressed, hiding the patches of bruises and scars away behind a t-shirt and sweatpants and headed for the bedroom when she stopped. She should check on Bora. At least to make sure she was okay.   
  
She tiptoed into the living room and peeked over the back of the couch to find Bora lying peacefully along the cushions. She didn’t even take up the entire length and the long sleeve shirt Minji lent was too big, flopping over her hands. Her black hair framed around her face against a pillow with legs spilling out from a pair of shorts partially covered by a fleece blanket.   
  
She looked just like a doll, Minji thought. She didn’t breathe and she didn’t move. It really was like she was made of porcelain. Or marble. Carved intricately and perfectly.   
  
“I can hear you.” Bora opened her eyes. They were rarely brown when she was in the apartment. Minji didn’t find it as off-putting anymore. Not when they belonged to a face she had grown accustomed to seeing every day.   
  
Strange. She didn’t remember faces of bleeders. She never cared to. Now Bora’s was one she examined every feature and logged into memory even if she didn't want to.   
  
“How are you feeling?”  
  
“Aww, were you worried about me?” Bora teased. “Do you want to see my sexy scar before it fades?”  
  
“That’s okay!” She rushed before Bora could pull up the tail of her shirt. “Well. Goodnight.” She turned to go.   
  
“What about you?”  
  
Minji looked over her shoulder to see Bora sitting up, peering over the back of the couch.   
  
“Are you, uh, okay?”  
  
“I’ll heal.”  
  
“Thanks or whatever for…” Bora made a slicing motion at the side of her neck with a thumb.  
  
“I did what had to be done.”  
  
“Even if that risked getting bitten?”  
  
“I trusted that you wouldn’t.” Walking back into the living room, Minji sat on the armrest of the chair across the way. “As much I hate to admit it, we are in this together. I don’t know your reasons, but I know it’s enough to keep you from sabotaging your chance of achieving your goal.”  
  
Bora hummed, eyes narrowing as she shifted around on the couch to face her. “You think you have me figured out?”  
  
“I think you have more of a reason for helping us other than keeping you alive a little longer.”  
  
Her mouth parted to speak before it shut. Bora turned away, scowling at no one and nothing in particular.   
  
“I’ve known hunters who have chosen death over giving into a vampire’s demands,” said Minji. “Whatever it is that you’re after means more to you than death.”  
  
Arms wrapped around legs that pulled up onto the couch. Bora rested her chin on her knees, holding herself in a compact little ball. She was so small. She was no more than a girl sitting like that. For a second Minji forgot she had fangs and red eyes. She forgot that she was a predator and a monster. She just was.   
  
“I was twenty-one,” Bora started, her voice soft and feathery across the air. “The caregiver at the foster home I was at let me stay until my sister was old enough to leave. We had just gotten into bed. I tucked her in and climbed onto my bunk above hers.” Brows knitted tighter in a furrow. “Then I woke up to fire.”  
  
Minji sucked in a gasp of a breath.   
  
“Not everyone made it out,” she went on. “I barely made it out alive. My sister wasn’t...she wasn’t going to make it. Sparrow was there. They planned the entire thing. They told me they could help her, that they could help both of us.” Chin sliding down off her knees, she spoke muffled into her legs. “I didn’t know what they meant but I was desperate. So I went with them.”  
  
Minji stilled. She realized she hadn’t once thought about what Bora’s life was like before she was a vampire. Sometimes it was easier to think that vampires didn’t have lives before that. That they were always things that needed to be picked off. Even so, as hunters, they were conditioned to believe that what they did was just. That the change negated who they were before their heart stopped beating.   
  
Somewhere in Bora’s story, Minji felt her chest twinge. She felt her stomach tighten up at how terrifying of a night that must’ve been. A night that almost mirrored one Minji knew herself.   
  
“Where is your sister now?” she asked.   
  
“I don’t know.” Sitting back, Bora leaned her head against the couch, eyes cast at the ceiling. “Sparrow has her. Hidden somewhere as punishment for being defiant. I was trained to be one of their finest soldiers but that’s not what I wanted. I wanted a second chance with my sister, not a war.”  
  
“You wanted to leave.”  
  
Bora lolled her head against the backrest to face her. Hair tumbled across her face in wisps. The answer was plain to see in the sadness reflected in her eyes before it was stolen by anger.   
  
“I tried using one of Sparrow’s tricks against them but I was caught.” When Bora spoke their name, she spoke it in disdain. “The night at the club was a test of loyalty. If I did what I was told, I would have my sister back.” She scoffed, gaze lifting back up to the patterns etched in the ceiling. “Now that I’m stuck with you, I know I’ll probably never see her again but by destroying Sparrow, I know she’ll be free. She won’t have to be afraid anymore. At least not of them.”  
  
Everything clicked into place. Why Bora so readily gave them information. Why she offered her help. Why she hadn’t tried to betray them. At least not yet. She needed them just as badly as they needed her.   
  
Minji wanted to laugh. She didn’t think anything like it had happened before in the history of hunters. She didn’t think even her parents would believe her if she told them.   
  
“What if we made a deal?” said Minji. Picking up her head, Bora looked to her in interest. “What if, when this is all over, I let you go?”  
  
Bora laughed, voice loud enough it made Minji flinch. Not because it was ugly but because of how much doubt she heard in it. “You would never do that.”  
  
“I could turn my back. Give you a head start. You and your sister.” She added on, “if we find her.”  
  
Eyes scanned across her face, searching for dishonesty. Searching for a flaw. Searching for the punchline that didn’t come. There wasn’t one.   
  
“Why would you?”  
  
Minji shrugged. She didn’t know. She didn’t know why. But something in her didn’t like the discomfort that followed the knots in her stomach of putting a dagger through Bora’s heart once they were done with her. It made her no different than Sparrow. Using her as a pawn, as a tool in a war, only to be discarded when they were of no more use.   
  
“But you have to promise me you will never come back,” said Minji. “Because if you do...”  
  
She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to. She knew Bora understood and it would be an understanding they shared only between the two of them. No one else could know.   
  
“How do I know you’re not lying to me?”   
  
The corner of Minji’s mouth lifted. “You’re just going to have to trust me.”


	4. Part 3

_“Ouch.”_  
  
“Sorry.”  
  
Fingers smoothed across her back, dabbing antiseptic into cuts with a cotton ball. Minji held her jaw tight, trying not to whimper at the dull burn of the chemicals. Yoohyeon was gentle and attentive as she worked, occasionally asking if Minji was okay each time she flinched.   
  
She nodded in return and encouraged her to keep going. She could take it. She’d had much worse than this before. Injuries that had needed stitches that left scars in places she found when she showered.   
  
“What happened here?”  
  
Minji fingered the spot on her neck where Yoohyeon touched, the pads tracking along the raised cut that she placed there herself. Heat flooded through her when she remembered Bora’s mouth attached over it. The way she greedily ate from her. The strange sensation of hot and cold. The pull of her a hand, desperately trying to get her closer, the drag of her tongue, the husk of her voice.   
  
“Just a scratch.”  
  
“That’s not just a scratch.”  
  
Her neck tilted with the soft push of Yoohyeon’s hand. Minji waited as she examined, wiping a cotton ball over the spot that didn’t hurt. There was only a dull ache beneath the surface. A tenderness like that of a muscle worked out a little too much. It was bearable and faint.   
  
If only she could say the same for the memory attached to it. That simmered something fierce in her stomach and made her skin flush hot. It made her well aware of the vampire in the opposite room, secured by silver cuffs weighed down by iron chains.  
  
Bora had waved at Yoohyeon when she entered and gave Yubin the finger if only to rile her teammate up. Minji steered them into her room before anything could get started, shooting daggers at Bora who teasingly blew her a kiss.   
  
Minji flushed all over again.   
  
“How does it look?” she asked, distracting Yoohyeon as much as she could from the red that took over the tips of her ears.   
  
“A little inflamed but healing.” Yoohyeon applied a bandage to it with care and returned to tend to the array of nicks and slices on her back. She had gotten a look at them in the mirror in the morning. It was an awful sight. Just as awful as having to recount the details of the mission to her team. “I don’t think it will scar badly.”  
  
Minji nodded and turned back to Yubin who walked through the room over to the window. The curtains were pulled to let in the sun. She leaned her shoulder against the wall beside it, head angled down to the activity below where something caught her attention.   
  
“What is it?” asked Minji.   
  
Yubin crouched, head tilted with her ear toward the glass. Her brow furrowed “Have you opened this recently?” she asked over her shoulder.   
  
“No.” It was too chilly to open it nowadays. Late autumn slowly giving into winter. She couldn’t remember the last time she even wanted to open that window.   
  
Pushing down on the metal lip, the window clicked all the way shut.   
  
Minji’s eyebrows lifted. “Maybe I forgot.”  
  
Yubin hummed as she stood up straight and paced through the room, hands stuffed in the pockets of her denim jacket as she scanned the area with her eyes.   
  
“All done,” Yoohyeon chimed behind her.   
  
“Thanks, Hyeonnie.”   
  
Grabbing her shirt, Minji pulled the turtleneck over her head and rolled her shoulders. She could feel where every scrape was. They nearly kept her up all night if she hadn’t been so exhausted. There were dark circles beneath her eyes and a hollowness in her belly from hunger. Her limbs were heavy and all she wanted to do was lay back down and go to sleep.   
  
“I think you should rest for a few days,” Yoohyeon suggested as she packed up her medical kit. “You have a lot of bruising. I’m worried it might worsen if you try to do anything too soon.”  
  
“If that’s what the doctor suggests.” She bumped back against Yoohyeon who smiled.   
  
“Yubin, what’s wrong?” asked Yoohyeon, a frown taking over. Her chin hooked over the back of Minji’s shoulder, arms circling her from behind. Minji leaned her head against Yoohyeon’s in appreciation for her comfort.   
  
“Something about what that vampire at the church said doesn’t sit right.” Her brow furrowed as she examined the top of Minji’s dresser and moved over to the tall, standing mirror that bounced her concerned reflection at them. “If the coven knows Bora is working with us, we have another problem.”  
  
“Wouldn’t they just want to kill her like they do us?” asked Yoohyeon. “Since she’s betrayed them?”  
  
“Maybe, but...the window.” Yubin paced back to it, fingers running along the windowsill. “What if they’re watching us?”  
  
Unease curled up in Minji’s stomach. She didn’t want to believe it but it could be possible. She remembered the vampire who tripped the alarm at the Temple and the figure on top of the warehouse building even if she wasn’t too sure if what she had seen was there and not just her mind playing tricks on her. Not to mention the vampire at the church who heard word that Bora was working with hunters. “Do you think someone was in here?”  
  
Yubin rubbed her fingers together, eyes narrowed at the flakes of dust collected there. “I think we need to be more careful than we were before.”  
  
“If that’s true, then they know that we’re onto them. They could know that we’re going for their weapons next.”  
  
“Exactly,” said Yubin.   
  
They each stopped, letting the reality of what that meant hang in the silence between them. Yoohyeon stiffened behind her and Minji gave her hand a comforting squeeze before she got up from the bed and walked over to the window.  
  
“Our next mission has to be airtight,” she said, eyes narrowing at the lock, searching for any evidence of it being tampered with. It was unsettling to think that there may have been a vampire in her room—in her apartment—watching her while she slept. “We have to think of all the variables that could go wrong.”  
  
“We should tell the Headhunters.”  
  
“No.” She turned to Yubin by her side. “Not yet.”  
  
She knew what would happen if they involved the Headhunters. They would take over and they would make sure Bora was taken out in the process. They wouldn’t see her as an asset. They would discard her and attack and that couldn’t happen. Not yet.   
  
“We’ve done fine on our own.”  
  
“Fine?” Yubin threw her hand out toward her, motioning to the fragile state she was in. “Look at you.”  
  
“I’m fine.” She straightened out, arms pulling over her chest. That movement alone pulled at her muscles enough for her to feel how very much not fine she was. She ached in every part of her but she wouldn't let it show. Couldn’t let it show. She had to be strong and she had to keep moving. Keep them moving.   
  
“No, you’re not. That’s our fault. We shouldn’t have let you go alone with her.” She threw the last word out like it was something dirty. Like something nasty she quickly wanted to get off her tongue.   
  
Minji’s defenses flared. “That _her_ saved my life.”  
  
“This time.” Yubin scoffed. “We don’t even know what her motives for being here are.”  
  
“If those movies were to kill us, she would’ve already done it.”  
  
Yubin turned to her slowly, head tilted in confusion and betrayal painted across her face. “Are you...defending her?”  
  
“Right now, yes.”  
  
Yubin’s mouth clicked shut. Frustration rippled through her, daring to lash out off her lips. It didn’t come. She swallowed it down and left the room, swinging the door shut behind her. Another slam sounded as she left the apartment entirely. Jaw clenched, Minji dropped her arms to her sides where she curled her hands into fists.   
  
She wavered on the balls of her feet, deciding whether to go after her or not. The argument about Bora was sensitive. She knew where Yubin was coming from. She knew what they stood for. What they believed. Vampires were second to nothing to them and no matter how valiant they appeared, it held nothing. Or it used to hold nothing.  
  
Turning around to the window, Minji leaned her hands on the windowsill, staring past her reflection to the street below. She couldn’t stand to look at herself right now. All of her confusion came hurtling back, bumping up against what she knew as a hunter and what she had seen from Bora.   
  
She knew what Bora’s motives were. She knew her goals. She knew she could be trusted—hoped that the trust she had extended would not be broken. She knew what she was going to do at the end of this and she knew that the others would denounce her for it if they knew.  
  
But she couldn’t bring herself to do what was expected of her in favor of what felt to be right. She was raised to be a hunter but she was raised to also be just. She was groomed into being a leader, taught to make the hard decisions even if not everyone agreed. But those hard decisions never included the life of a vampire in them before.   
  
“Am I wrong?” she asked more to herself than anything.   
  
“She’s worried,” said Yoohyeon from behind her. The bed creaked as she got up, footsteps light as they approached but stopped short of reaching her. “We both are.”  
  
Minji turned to her, eyes tracing the line of the scar across her eye. She remembered the night Yoohyeon got it. There was so much blood. It matted into her hair and spilled down her face and over her lips and soaked into her shirt mixing with tears.   
  
At the time, Minji thought she lost an eye. It was swollen and red, straining up from her face in a disgusting lump. She held Yoohyeon’s head in her lap as Yubin drove them to a clan doctor, stroking her hair and biting back her own cries as she delivered comforting words while she sat in her own clothes drenched with dark blood.   
  
Minji stayed with her the entire night. So did Yubin. She hugged Yubin in relief when they told them Yoohyeon was going to be okay. That she’d only need a patch for a little while.   
  
The first thing Minji did was kiss the patch and promise Yoohyeon that she would never let her hurt like that again. That she would do better to protect the two people she held most dear even over the rest of the hunters.   
  
She felt like she failed her teammate that night. She felt like she was failing Yubin now. And Yoohyeon. They were her clan. Her family. They came before anything. Especially vampires. Should always come before vampires. She never thought that she would be vouching for one. Never thought she’d be sharing her home with one. Never thought her she would have any hint of sympathy for one.   
  
But here she was.   
  
And she didn’t like it. That is, she didn’t like that she was being torn on the inside to choose.  
  
“We can do this without them.” _Can’t we?_ were the words unspoken.   
  
There were always unspoken words. Things she couldn’t share with her team. She was the leader, she needed to hold firm. She needed them to believe in her. Not doubt her. But even as Yoohyeon offered her a smile and stepped close to accept the reassuring hand Minji pressed to her cheek, she saw the uncertainty.   
  
They had never done something like this before and Minji was the one who had to navigate them through murky, unknown waters. She hoped she was leading them correctly. She hoped she was doing right by her team. But also…  
  
Also, in the back of her mind, in a place she was finding herself visiting more and more, she hoped she was doing right by Bora, too.   
  
“It’s all so scary,” Yoohyeon told her. “If we aren’t enough, we have to do what’s best for us and the clan. Even if that means telling the Headhunters.”  
  
“We will. But not yet.” She stroked her thumb across the curve of Yoohyeon’s cheek. “Do you trust me?”  
  
Yoohyeon nodded and Minji smiled. It was reassuring for the moment. She always found reassurance in Yoohyeon even if she didn’t know it. Where Yubin was the one who kept them steady, Yoohyeon was the one who filled in the warmth while Minji held them together. Lately, however, she didn’t feel the togetherness. Like it was fractured. Splintering little by little the deeper they embarked on this mission.   
  
“Thank you.” Lifting her chin, she pressed a kiss above Yoohyeon’s eyebrow, right above the beginnings of the scar. “I’ll go find Yubin. Wait here, okay?”  
  
“She doesn’t want to see you get hurt,” said Yoohyeon to her back just as she reached the door. “It hurts us just as much when you are. I don’t—we don’t—know what we’d do if we lost you.”  
  
Minji nodded. She understood. It was the same thing she felt or would feel if either of them came home beat and broken.   
  
Slipping out the door, she left with a knot in her stomach. She hoped she could hold them together until the end.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Coins jingled as Minji plucked a few from her pocket and inserted them into the washing machine. Water drained into the basin and she moved away with her basket to take a seat in one of the plastic hard chairs of the laundromat, comfortable in black sweats and a simple white tee, baseball cap pulled over her head.   
  
“Has anyone ever wondered why your clothes are always black?” Bora swung her feet back and forth in the chair beside her where her toes just barely touched the ground. It would be adorable on someone else, the way Bora sometimes gave into childish antics.   
  
Minji had spent enough time with her to see them. Picked up on the little things. Like how Bora liked to watch cartoons, laughing loudly at the screen. Liked to spark baseless arguments for the sake of arguing about silly things that didn’t warrant the spat. Liked to watch Minji cook and clean with annoying little questions that would drive her up the wall but she’d answer them anyway.   
  
It made Minji wonder if Bora was a little bit like her. Grown up too fast in the years she should’ve been sporting dolls instead of daggers, stuck between being something she was and what she was expected to be.   
  
“One time someone asked me if I was a painter,” Minji replied. “I said yes.”  
  
Bora snorted and slipped down in her chair, neck bent over the back of the seat, eyes closed to the harsh fluorescents and the evening sunlight peering through the blinds split over the windows. She was in one of Minji’s oversized striped sweatshirts and a pair of loose jeans cuffed a few times so they didn’t drag on the floor.   
  
Minji felt a smile threaten her lips. She kind of liked seeing Bora in her clothes. The way they were a little too long for her. The way they sometimes swallowed up her frame or the sleeves flopped over her hands.   
  
Odd. She tossed the thought away though it made her wonder where Bora came from.   
  
“You’ve probably been evicted by now,” said Minji. Bora opened one questioning eye at her. “We’ve had you for almost two months.”  
  
Bora closed her eye and coughed out a laugh. “That’s not how it works.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
Her nose scrunched up at the corners, crinkling up her face. Minji wondered if there was any expression she could pull that made her look ugly. She didn’t think so. “We live where the coven wants us to live. Most of us don’t have real homes.”  
  
“Then where do you live?”  
  
She chuckled, lips audibly splitting in a smirk. “I thought hunters knew everything about us.”  
  
Minji flared in embarrassment. Bora wasn’t wrong. Bora hadn’t been wrong about a few things when it came to hunters. To their history. To the things they believed.   
  
She didn’t want to admit that she had started to question what she was taught. For all she knew, there was no way humans and vampires could coexist. Not peacefully. Nothing civil could ever come between them. On mornings when Minji woke up to make breakfast and Bora was there, lying on the couch surfing channels on a TV that knew more dust than use, she started to question if that were true.  
  
Even now, she wondered. Not so much about the possibilities if Bora was human but rather what would come of Bora being a vampire that Minji didn’t kill. If she just let her be. Of all those moments she didn’t exactly see fangs but just the gleaming flash of a smile, when the tint in her cheeks was a lovely asset instead of a trick of allurement, when the smooth, husk of her voice wasn’t a means to craftily charm or con.   
  
It’s like all of the things Minji was taught to hate didn’t seem so dangerous or destructive or disgusting anymore. They just were. Same as a pretty dress put on to catch someone’s eye, the flit of the lashes to lure someone in, the coy twist in a laugh to charm a beautiful stranger. They were no different and Minji was a swarm of bafflement on how she could’ve believed that someone like Bora who only wanted to survive was destined for death because of that.   
  
“If we knew, don't you think we would’ve found all of you by now?”  
  
Bora’s brow lifted as she considered. “Touché.” She opened both eyes for a wink before letting them close again. Yawning, she continued. “We live in abandoned buildings. Old warehouses. Some have apartments and a few pretend to be families and live in houses but they’re planted there. For appearances.”  
  
“For Sparrow’s plan.”  
  
Bora nodded. “Even if it wasn’t, the threat of hunters keeps us from living anywhere other than the shadows.”  
  
“Maybe if there were others like you—“  
  
“There are hundreds like me,” Bora countered, bite in her voice. “You’ve just never taken the time to figure that out until you had to.”  
  
Minji’s brow furrowed as she thought about it. She was told vampires stuck to shadows and hidden in darkness because they were ghouls and creatures of the night. It never occurred to her that they did it to protect themselves. They had no choice but to resort to areas that others wouldn’t look or otherwise be hunted down.   
  
Her eyes dropped to her lap where she was absentmindedly picking at a nail. “You’re right.”  
  
Bora shot up straight, feigning shock with a hand over her chest. “Do thine ears deceive me? Has the mighty hunter agreed with me, a lowly, filthy, _deranged_ vampire?”  
  
She rolled her eyes with a smile but it was weak. There was no humor to be had. Guilt churned in Minji’s stomach like bile.   
  
“When we’re five, our parents take out what is known as the great text and tell us stories of vampires and hunters. We learn the history written by hunters before us. They paint vile pictures of your kind. The stories are enough to give you nightmares. I used to have them until I learned that I was powerful enough to end the nightmares with a dagger.”  
  
Minji leaned back, eyes cast to the ceiling as she recalled the tales. How they were used to turn vampires into monsters. How they instilled the idea of good and evil when it came to them versus they. How they were taught to hate and be proud of bringing death and destruction.   
  
“It’s easy to take a side with history when you’ve only been shown one half of it,” Minji muttered. It was true. Even when crimes were committed, they sought to hear both sides of the story. When it came to vampires, why was it any different?  
  
“Do you know what the old vampires call hunters?” asked Bora. Minji brought her head back down, giving it a shake at the question. “The Great Executioners.” Minji shuddered. That was awful. “We‘re four times as strong as any human but your numbers will always be larger than our own. That’s why so many trust Sparrow. Because finally we think we have the chance to tip the scale.”  
  
Minji didn’t blame them. She understood them. To live in constant fear was no way to live at all. It wasn’t a life. It was a fight for survival and Minji and those she served were to blame for it.   
  
“Who is Sparrow?” she asked.   
  
“Whoever takes the place of the coven leader before them. It’s a title more than it is a name.”  
  
“That means who the old hunters knew and who they are now—“  
  
“Is different.”  
  
Minji’s mouth parted in surprise. That changed things. “Then that means, even if we get rid of Sparrow, someone new will take over. The cycle will continue.”  
  
Bora shrugged and pulled her feet into the chair beneath her, eyes on clothes tossing in the machine. “There’s only one thing I care about getting at the end of this. What comes next isn’t my problem. It’s yours.”  
  
Minji wanted to be upset but she couldn’t find it in herself to be. Bora’s mission was for her sister. Nothing more. She would’ve done the same if it came to Yubin or Yoohyeon. She would stop at nothing, would side with whoever, if it meant keeping them safe and alive. To get them back if they were taken from her.  
  
Funny. They were more alike than she thought.   
  
“This is boring.” Bora let out a groan, kicking her legs back out. Standing up, she stretched her arms over her head. “Come on.”  
  
“Where?”  
  
“Away from here.” She started toward the door.   
  
“Bora, wait—”  
  
But she had already slipped out of the entrance.   
  
Minji hurried after her, calling out to her from a few strides behind. “Do I need to remind you that you’re in custody?”  
  
“So cuff me!” she shouted over her shoulder.   
  
Minji skipped to catch up with her and slowed by her side. The evening was chilly. What little warmth there had been was stolen away by the sun setting along the horizon. Minji tucked her hands in her pockets to keep them warm as she let Bora lead the way, weaving through bodies that streamed down the sidewalk and taking them over crosswalks.   
  
“Where are we going?”  
  
Bora waved a hand in a noncommittal response and kept on. Minji pursed her lips but didn’t ask again. It had been a long time since she just...took a walk. It had been a long time since she had time to do anything for herself. Patrols and plans and reports and training took up most of her days every day. In the free time she had, she used it to sleep but rest was stolen by a restlessness that drew her into workouts and sparring with Yubin or Yoohyeon at the Temple and studying to be better so that one day she could call herself a Headhunter.   
  
It was nice not to be on a mission even if it was only for a few days.   
  
The crowds thinned out and the streets emptied of the mechanic hum of cars as Bora took them along residential streets. The sun had dipped nearly out of sight by the time they came on a playground. It wasn’t very big. Not like the ones found in parks with pavilions for picnics and fields to kick soccer balls.   
  
It was quaint. A simple jungle gym with monkey bars and rings and a slide, a set of swings and a merry-go-round. On the edge stood a plaque propped on a pole. Minji stopped to read it. 

_The Children’s Park  
In Remembrance of The Han Foster Care for The Young  
1953-1994_

  
She drew her eyes up to find Bora beside her, her own eyes on the engraved text with a solemn expression.  
  
“Is this where…”  
  
“They built this park a few months after the fire.” Head tilting up, Bora looked out across the playground, eyes seeing things that no longer were. “Me and my sister used to come here at night to get away from the coven when we were sure even hunters were asleep.”  
  
The corners of Minji’s mouth tugged down, a faint pang in her chest at that. “Is she your real sister?”  
  
Bora shook her head. “She entered a few years after me. I was the only person who could get her to eat.” Bora smiled at herself no doubt remembering those times and beyond. The way the smile curved on her lips was gentle. Full of adoration. Minji never knew a vampire who was so full of love the way she was full of love for those she cared about. “I think they forgot we weren’t related after a few years.”  
  
“And your parents?”  
  
“I never knew them.” Pulling away, Bora paced across the playground and rounded behind a swing, giving the chains a shake. “Get on.”  
  
Minji laughed as she walked over to it, eyeing the red seat that had faded in color over time from the sun and use. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve been on a swing.”  
  
She almost didn’t think she ever had but there were a few hazy memories. When she was small and before the world of hunters was fully introduced to her. She remembered her dad pushing her on the swing while her mom stood by with a nameless face, talking softly to each other and occasionally waving when Minji flopped her hand in a wave over to her.   
  
She didn’t know at the time that the person was another hunter and the stop at the park was a scheduled meetup to discuss clan business. It was incredible, Minji thought. Everything she did and was surrounded by was all linked to hunting even when she wasn’t aware. She truly had known nothing but.   
  
“Don’t push me off,” she warned before sinking into the seat.   
  
Bora gave a tentative push and Minji raised her feet so she could swing back into another that sent her a little higher. A few swings in, she trusted Bora wasn’t going to toss her off and she allowed herself to relax.   
  
“See? Fun, right?”  
  
Minji snorted. It was kiddish. She didn’t know if she could say it was fun. Enjoyable, maybe. She liked the air brushing past her cheeks and whipping her hair back in deep, burgundy strands. She liked the weightlessness in her stomach when she reached high enough, squealing when Bora gave her a push hard enough to make her feel like she was going to go flying out.   
  
“Bora!”  
  
She cackled behind her after giving a particular harsh shove that had Minji gripping the chains. “You’re fine, princess.”  
  
She yelled again on the next push. Feet kicked out to dig heels into the ground and dragged to a stop on the swing back, neck swiveled around to glare at Bora who was grinning mischievously down at her.  
  
“What? What did I do?”  
  
“You know exactly what you did.” Standing up, Minji dusted off her hands, eyes narrowed. It didn’t seem to phase Bora at all.   
  
She sighed with a dramatic roll of the eyes. “You’re no fun.”  
  
“What kind of fun should I be?”  
  
“The fun kind.”  
  
“That doesn’t make any—“  
  
Bora tapped her on the shoulder and started running. When she noticed Minji wasn’t following, she came back and did it again.   
  
Minji blinked, staring after her. “What are you doing?”  
  
“Chase me.” Bora pouted, bottom lip stuck out. On anyone else, Minji would’ve found it annoying. Childish. Silly. For some reason, it made Minji’s insides melt a little.   
  
Her brow wrinkled. “Why?”  
  
“Uh, tag?”  
  
“Are you five?”  
  
Bora bounded back over to her and shoved, nearly sending Minji tumbling over.   
  
“Hey!”  
  
Bora took off, cackling as Minji thundered after.   
  
They darted across the park, Bora always just a few paces ahead. It was a tease, Minji knew. If Bora didn’t want her to catch her, she wouldn’t be able to and it was both annoying and kind of her to match herself to her pace.   
  
Rounding the jingle gym, Minji snuck beneath the bars to cut Bora off her path but she pivoted quickly and headed the other direction. Minji countered back, her eyes locking to the ones that looked back at her and hit the ground, sliding along the mulch to—  
  
Her hand caught air as Bora zapped away from her, moving from one end of the jungle gym to the other in a blink.   
  
“That’s cheating.”  
  
“No, it’s not.”  
  
“You can’t use vampire speed!”   
  
“I’m going as fast as you are.” Bora skipped over. “See?” She jumped back just before Minji could touch her. “You’re just slow.”  
  
“I’m not slow!” She spun on her heels to keep up with Bora who breezed around her, dancing on her toes as she evaded each of Minji’s attempts to tag her. “You’re not playing fair.” She huffed, lungs already puffing in pants and hair tossed.   
  
“Maybe if your head wasn’t so big.”  
  
Teeth gritted, Minji launched herself forward, tackling Bora to the ground where they rolled.   
  
“You’re it!” Pushing off the ground, Minji went to get up but Bora yanked her back, flipping her down into the mulch.   
  
“You’re it.” She started to stand.   
  
Arms wrapped around Bora’s legs, knocking her off balance, knees sinking back into the dirt she thought she had escaped from. “No, you!”   
  
“Ugh!” Fingers poked Minji in the nose. Smacking the hand away, it came back, aim set for her mouth. Minji sputtered at the fingers that managed to get through and flailed into hands that snatched her wrists and spun her around so she sprawled hard across the ground, cap falling off in the process.   
  
“My back!” Minji whimpered.   
  
Bora panicked. “Sorry! I’m sor—“ A hand of mulch smashed into her face, sticking to her chin and flaking in her hair. “Why you little—! Who’s not playing fair now?”  
  
Minji screamed as fingers stabbed into her sides. She squirmed, trying to get away from the ticklish torment but she couldn’t. Bora was too strong.   
  
She kicked her legs, using her arms to flip them over but Bora took the upper hand again.   
  
“Bora, please!” she wheezed through a fit of laughter, Bora’s high pitched one mixing with hers.   
  
The laughs hurt deep in her belly and burned in her chest. The world around her whirled and spun as they wrestled through the mulch until flakes were stuck to their clothes and peppered through their hair, dug up beneath fingernails and bits in their mouths held open in smiles and laughter.   
  
“Okay, okay, okay!” Minji grabbed for Bora’s forearms, futilely trying to end the assault. “I’m sorry! Stop. Stop! Bora!”   
  
“Fine, since you _begged.”_  
  
Hands left the sore spaces on her ribs and Minji sighed in relief, whimpering through another fit of laughs from the ghost feeling of hands still on her.   
  
“You monster,” she panted, eyes opening up to Bora who was staring down at her, teeth bright and pretty in a smile. Not a smirk this time. Just a smile that scrunched up her cheeks and showed the sharp points of sheathed fangs. Her black hair was a mess, glossy in the sunlight that glowed behind her head.  
  
Bora’s smile closed but it didn’t lose its intensity. Just changed. Went soft. She blinked and her lids grew heavy. The look she was giving made Minji’s stomach flutter. Made her chest swirl in little, wisps of things that made her neck hot and the tips of her ears burn.   
  
“That looks good on you,” said Bora.   
  
“What?”  
  
”A smile.”  
  
Minji’s lip drew between her teeth, blush threatening her aching cheeks.   
  
She glanced down at where Bora straddled her waist. She remembered the first time it happened. The harsh ground under her shoulder blades, the smell of fire and smoke, the curl of fingers around her throat.   
  
The image of Bora then and now clashed in Minji’s head. The images of all the vampires she encountered in the past clashed against the one now. All the stares of death and growling mouths of fangs. Of hatred fueled feuds. Of moments right before blows that could’ve ended in death.   
  
She found none of those now. Not with Bora. Her rough edges were nowhere in sight. She was as smooth and rounded as the slope of her cheeks that puffed out when she smiled that huge smile that shouldn’t fit something of her kind. But it did and Minji’s heart raced.   
  
“You okay there, princess?” Her mouth lost a fraction of its softness to turn into a grin. One of curiosity and wonder.   
  
Eyes dipped down to her chest to where her heart was beating. Minji tensed. She had forgotten. For a few moments, she had forgotten what Bora was. That she could hear it.   
  
“I’m fine.” She sat up, trying to signal Bora off her but she only sat back on her thighs. Minji paused, eyes catching one another again. Those gorgeous swirls of red stole her away.   
  
She lifted a hand, stroking it through black strands to dislodge the bits of mulch stuck there. It was soft beneath her fingers. Same as the plush of her cheeks and the pillows of her lips. Same as the core of her heart that was only surrounded by thorns meant to protect from those that meant her harm. Those like Minji and her clan.   
  
Bora turned her chin, cheek touching Minji’s hand that brushed across the smooth curve there. She sucked in a breath feeling the coolness beneath her fingertips that froze her in place. She stilled, watching Bora nuzzle into her palm, nose grazing the faint line of the cut she put there so many weeks ago to spill her blood that brought her back to life.   
  
Funny. In just a few moments shared in the playground, Minji felt more life in her than she had in her existence of owning a beating heart.   
  
“We—“ she drew her hand back, curling it into a fist that dropped away. Bora gave a lazy blink that made Minji’s chest burn. She looked away. “We should get back,” she mumbled.   
  
The walk back to the laundromat was quiet. Few words were exchanged as they waited for the load to dry and headed back to the apartment.   
  
She the basket aside to deal with later and headed for the kitchen when Bora stopped her.   
  
“Let me do it.”  
  
Minji eyed her. “Are you sure?”  
  
“Trust me.”  
  
They were hard words to obey but maybe not so much anymore. With a nod, she let Bora do as she pleased and took to the floor to fold clothes while she cooked. The smells beckoned Minji into the kitchen after a while and she leaned against the doorframe, watching as Bora put the finishing touches onto the meal.   
  
It was the strangest sight. Bora. A vampire. Making a meal she couldn’t even eat. She had plucked the apron Yoohyeon had gifted her ages ago off the hook on the wall and tied it around her waist. Minji bit back a smile. She hadn’t even used that apron more than once or twice. Having Bora in it made everything entirely too domestic. Made it seem like she was a part of this place. Like she wasn’t a prisoner. Like she maybe even, could even, belong.  
  
“Wow.” Minji stepped over the tile, neck stretching to look at the plate and dishes. She hadn’t had much in her fridge but Bora seemed to have made do with what she could.   
  
“Your dinner is served,” Bora said in a horrendous French accent that made Minji snort. She laughed at herself as she took up a set of chopsticks and picked up a chunk of meat. “Try some.”  
  
Minji blushed. She hardly even accepted food from Yoohyeon when she offered her bites. “Oh, it’s okay.”  
  
“Just eat it.”  
  
Relenting, Minji accepted the food offered to her, chewing in surprise at the flavors that burst on her tongue.   
  
“Good, isn’t it?” She waggled her eyebrows as Minji nodded and swallowed. Taking off the apron, Bora set it back on the hook. “Enjoy.”  
  
“Wait.” Minji caught her by the arm, holding her in place before she could leave the kitchen The ice of her skin shocked her and she let go to grip the counter behind her, thumb tapping nervously on the lip. “You need to eat, too.”  
  
Bora’s eyes automatically flicked to her neck. The color was a little dull. Minji had noticed while they were at the playground. Her tongue slipped from her mouth to lick across her lips and Minji caught herself watching it, insides tingling in remembrance of the feeling of it.  
  
“After I eat. Okay?”  
  
Bora nodded. “Yeah, okay.”  
  
“Hey,” Minji called. Bora leaned back around the corner, brow lifted expectantly. Whatever confidence she had slipped away and Minji couldn’t bring herself to look her in the face. “Thank you for the food.” She bit her lip and forced her eyes to meet the ones that were watching her. “And earlier.”  
  
“Whatever, princess.” She shrugged but the show of indifference was fake and the way her eyes darted away from Minji was telling. “Don’t, uh, choke.”   
  
“I’ll try not to.”  
  
Minji didn’t miss the smile that pulled on Bora’s mouth as she slipped out of the kitchen. And she didn’t miss the flood of warmth that washed through her at seeing it.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Minji stirred. Sleep fell away from her slowly, drawing her awake. The room around her was cool. Colder than usual. She rolled onto her back, pulling the blanket up to her chin as her eyes split open to slits as she peered over at the clock on her bedside.   
  


_5:23am_  
  
Too early.   
  
Her body was still heavy from Bora’s feed and her muscles ached all over again from spending the evening at the park instead of resting them like she should. She didn’t know if she minded that too much.   
  
Closing her eyes again, Minji stretched, hands pushing up at the headboard and toes pointed with a groan. Head lolling on the pillow, lashes fluttered open up at the ceiling. Red stared back at her.   
  
A mouth curved deep-set in a pale face revealing the tips of fangs.   
  
Minji’s throat seared as she sucked in a painful gasp. She scrambled, reaching beneath her pillow to grab the knife she kept hidden there. Fingers curled around the hilt and she blinked, eyes snapping back open to—  
  
Nothing.   
  
She pushed to her knees, knife clutched tight, and pulse raging. Eyes darted from one dark corner of the room to the other. Still nothing. The only thing strange was the flutter of the curtains around her window as they slowly settled back to motionless.   
  
Her veins turned to ice.   
  
“Bora?” she croaked, voice strained. She swallowed through the lump. “Bora!”  
  
A head popped into the bedroom. “Are you trying to wake the—”  
  
She zapped into the room, standing between the window and the bed where Minji slowly stood up from. Her nose tilted up, sniffing the air.   
  
Bora’s lip peeled back, eyes narrowing. “There was someone here.”  
  
“Who?”  
  
“I don’t know.” She sniffed again, nose scrunching up. “There’s too much iron in the air.”  
  
She made a quick sweep of the room, flashing from one side to the other and stopped by the window. A low grumble sounded in the depths of her chest.   
  
“This isn’t the first time.”  
  
Minji was stiff as she walked over to her, watching the way Bora’s eyes flitted around as if she was trying to find the ghost that had evaded them.   
  
“Yubin was right.” Minji flipped the latch to lock the window. She didn’t know what it would do but it gave her some sense of control and security knowing it was.   
  
“A Seer.”  
  
“A what?”  
  
“They’re Sparrow’s eyes and ears.” Bora crouched low, nose ghosting over the windowsill. The breath she took in left her in a heave. “They’re sent to observe. They only engage if they’re told to.” She stood up straight and wrapped her knuckles against the glass, eyes turning up to Minji’s pallid face. “That’s why you’re still alive.”  
  
It wasn't comforting to know. Not when there was the possibility that fact could change. That the decision could be made to get rid of her.   
  
Minji pulled her arms around herself as she shivered more from the words than the cold. “So, they’re collecting information?”  
  
Bora nodded.   
  
Fear simmered in her stomach. Everything they thought was true. She bit her lip.   
  
“We’ll have to tell the others.”  
  
“I should’ve known earlier.” Bora’s teeth bared in frustration.   
  
Minji touched a hand to her shouldering, offering an apologetic smile. “You couldn’t have. You’ve been chained in silver and iron.”  
  
All her senses were dulled from the effects of both. Until now. Until Minji forgot about chains and slumped off into her room where she crashed into bed too tired and drained to do much else.   
  
“I should stay in here with you,” Bora suggested, voice serious. “Just in case.”  
  
It was thoughtful but, “That’s okay.”   
  
“I’m a good watchdog.” She turned away from the window up to Minji, a light smile taking away the hard set of her mouth. “Obedient.”  
  
Minji scoffed. “You’re anything but obedient.”   
  
“But I am house trained.” Bora balled her fists beneath her chin, eyes big and innocent, and an exaggerated pout on her lips. “I’ll be good for you, master.”  
  
The muscles in Minji’s neck tightened. She locked up everything on the outside while everything on the inside whirled. Heat spread across her skin, licking away the chill for a moment. She was thankful for the darkness for shrouding most of her flush in the pale moonlight.   
  
She cleared her throat. “Be a good girl and make some coffee.”  
  
“Yes, ma’am.” Bora bounded off.   
  
Minji smiled at her back until she realized what she was doing. This wasn’t the time to joke. Someone breaking into her home to spy on her was serious. Knowing it wasn’t the first time made her sick to her stomach. She wondered what they had seen. She wondered where else they had tailed her, hidden away just out of sight.   
  
She shuddered.   
  
Minji followed the smell of coffee into the kitchen where Bora was leaning against the counter with a hip in a graphic tee that Minji was sure she had stolen from Yubin and a pair of shorts. It was incredible how unnervingly perfect Bora was despite all that had happened in the time she knew the vampire.   
  
She knew there should be a gnarled scar in her thigh where iron had stabbed her. She knew there should be scrapes and bruises and cuts much like her own but there were none.   
  
Minji couldn’t find it in her to feel lucky for Bora—for her ability to heal so quickly and flawlessly. It only told of how much she would endure. Over and over again. To be subject to pain and harm and healed and do it all over again without end.   
  
Minji frowned. Somehow she knew that didn’t apply only to the physical for Bora.   
  
“We should probably come up with something.” Minji stepped into the kitchen. She eyed the mug Bora had chosen. A cute, little white one with bunnies printed on it. “Maybe we could take turns on watch.”  
  
“I can do it alone. I have the experience.”  
  
That made Minji curious. She leaned back against the counter, hands propped on the surface behind her. “What did you do in the coven?”  
  
Bora shifted. “Recruitment and training.”  
  
“So, you were important.” Minji remembered the way the assistant at the market had been surprised and respectful to her and the pastor who bowed to her in the church.   
  
“Not because I wanted to be.” Leaning her elbows on the counter, she watched as coffee began to fill the pot “If you’re disposable, that’s how you’re used. I couldn’t let that happen. I worked my way up the ranks by swearing my devotion, hoping it would keep me and my sister safe.”  
  
“But it didn’t.”  
  
Bora’s face darkened. “I worked on a plan for months on how to escape. You can’t just leave the coven. If you desert or if you’re exiled, it ends the same. They rip you into pieces while everyone watches then burn the remains.”  
  
Minji shuddered. It was gruesome. Much more than being sent to the chopping block for hunters but no less vile.  
  
“I was put on an assignment to open another channel to get the coven money.” She paused to stand up straight, plucking the pot out of the maker after the light blinked that it was finished. “Money was the last thing I needed to get me and my sister as far away from here. I threw the mission. I turned on my team and stole what I could. I would’ve gotten away but…”  
  
“You got caught.”  
  
“They found out everything.” Bora nodded while she poured, steam foggy her face as it filled the mug while she spoke. “What I planned to do and where to go. Sparrow wanted to punish me and so they took my sister.” Minji didn’t miss the way her hand tightened around the ceramic. “The only way I would get her back is to do what they wanted—to take that club like they had taken my home. We were there to add numbers and I would be the one to blood all of them.” The pot eased back into its cradle. Bora tilted her head back, eyes pulling over to Minji that she simply looked at for a few seconds. “Maybe I’m glad you showed up that night.”  
  
Minji’s eyebrows flicked upward. She wondered what would’ve happened. Would Bora have gone through with it? Minji knew she would’ve. If she was willing to partner with the very ones who were supposed to kill her, why wouldn’t she?   
  
What struck Minji by surprise was that Bora didn’t want to do it. She never wanted any of this. She truly had no choice from the day she was turned to the assignments she was sent to complete to keep on living. She was just a girl who had a wonderful future ahead of her that was turned into a tool and a soldier, made to fear every waking day and continuously check over her shoulder in case those who stole her would betray her.   
  
It created a painful pang in Minji’s chest. No one deserved that and still, Bora stood here trying to find ways to win in a battle that was up against her from the start.   
  
“You're very brave,” said Minji. She couldn’t think of any other way to put it. The things Bora had done, the sacrifices she had made, outweighed Minji’s own that she had done for her team and her clan. It was admirable.   
  
Bora snorted, rolling her eyes but it was all for show. “Am I brave or am I stupid?”  
  
Minji offered her a gentle smile. “We do stupid things for the people we love but that doesn’t take away your bravery. It strengthens it.”  
  
Bora’s líps parted to speak before they sealed shut. Her eyes dropped and her brow wrinkled, stepping over to Minji with the mug in hand.   
  
“It’s sad that you’ve always had to fight for your life,” said Minji. She accepted the mug by the handle, noting how Bora didn’t even flinch as she held the glass full on. “I’m sorry. I wish things could be different.”  
  
Bora paused, still clutching the mug with her eyes peering up through her lashes. There was a strange look on her face. Something vulnerable. Like the way she looked at the playground, smiling down at Minji like it was the first time she’d been able to feel something other than fear or hold the front of strength when she wanted to crumble.   
  
Bora said that a smile looked good on Minji but Minji thought it looked better on Bora.   
  
“Do you mean that?” Her voice was small and unsure. Minji realized at that moment that Bora was just as scared as she was. That she was just as stuck in this twisted cycle of life and death and hate. That no one had probably ever shown her genuine kindness or sympathy except the one person who had been stolen from her.   
  
So it was easy for Minji to say, “Yes.”  
  
Bora let go and moved back to the coffee maker, flicking it off.   
  
“What would you do if you weren’t a vampire?” Minji took a tentative sip then blew off the steam when she found it too hot.   
  
Bora stiffened, stuttering in her movements as she grabbed a rag to clean off the counter where coffee grounds had spilled.   
  
“I’d probably be a mom by now,” she said it so softly. She looked embarrassed. If she could still blush, Minji was sure she would.   
  
Minji blinked in surprise until she realized. Bora was much older than the twenty-something-year-old she appeared. Had lived many more years than she showed. “Oh.”  
  
Bora’s nose scrunched. “Or not.” The rag hit the counter with a plop as she threw it down. “After being with the coven, I don’t know if family is worth having.”  
  
Minji couldn’t relate but she tried to understand. Yoohyeon’s family had accepted her in but she was old enough to not need them as much as she would if she was younger. She lived on her own since the passing of her parents and the clan was always viewed as a sort of family though Yoohyeon and Yubin were the closest she could even call that if she wanted. But they were always good to her. Always there. She did the same for them in return.   
  
“You can make your own when this is over.” Because that’s what she did.   
  
Bora snorted. “This will never be over.”  
  
“What if it could be?” Minji made a sweeping gesture across the kitchen with her free hand. “What if all of this was gone? No more covens or clans. We could live like this.”  
  
It was a fanciful idea. One that would never be but one that Minji had thought of once or twice before. She found herself thinking about it a little more since she met Bora. What if they weren’t at odds. What if Bora was just another girl and Minji just the same. Or what if they were who they were but there was no fear of fangs or iron daggers?   
  
Eyebrows flicked upward. “Just like this?”  
  
“What?” Minji stuttered at the grin that plucked the corners of Bora’s lips and the way she raked her eyes over her.   
  
“That’s a little domestic of you.” Bora slithered into her space, a hand cupping over the one Minji held on the glass. “Me making you coffee in the morning”— her hand slid back along Minji’s arm and around her elbow, pulling Minji forward into her—“while you let me open your veins for lunch?”  
  
Minji went rigid as Bora breathed into her neck.   
  
“What would the others think?” she chuckled, tapping the underside of Minji’s chin with her nose. “A hunter and a vampire.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as her head eclipsed the light behind her, face right in front of Minji’s. “What an abomination.”  
  
Minji swallowed. That wasn’t what she meant. It wasn’t. But her brain deceived her and it short-circuited when the image of Bora filling up her kitchen with laughs and smiles without the strangling hand of what she was cleaving her to the shadows while Minji no longer held the weight of her responsibilities on her shoulders flickered through her mind like some distant reality.   
  
“Crazier things have happened,” Minji whispered, her breath bouncing back at her from how close Bora was.   
  
Bora hummed, eyes switching from one of Minji’s to the other. She didn’t look as sure of herself as she normally did. A little too open. A little too telling in the nervous swipe of her tongue across her mouth.   
  
Minji found herself following the drag of it. She had felt them against her skin enough times to know they held the softness that they appeared. The same softness Bora held inside herself. Just like the fierce sense of loyalty and devotion and love she held for her sister. It was admirable. Charming. Attractive. If only because they were things Minji held as well. For her team. For her clan.   
  
“You would never,” said Bora.  
  
Eyes locked. Bora was searching again. It didn’t evade Minji that she didn’t say _she_ would never. She didn’t miss that Bora hadn’t tossed away the idea. She didn’t seem disgusted by it but rather…  
  
Minji’s pulse kicked up. She was suddenly fully aware of the entirety of Bora. The hand still on her elbow, clutching firmly. The stable press of her body that kept her rooted against the counter. The rise and fall of her chest as she took in breaths she didn’t need. The way her muscles were coiled, ready to fly away at any moment. Like all Minji had to do was deny her and she would go.   
  
Minji’s breath shuddered as she drew it in. “I—”  
  
Her phone alarm chimed. Minji jumped.  
  
Shouldering out of Bora’s hold, she went to turn it off. Warm, golden sunlight had taken over the window. There were fingerprints on the glass she hadn’t noticed before. The sight of them thrust her back into reality. Away from strange fantasies of having Bora for herself not as a prisoner but hers alone and back to the dangers at hand. To what was.   
  
“We should get ready. We have to meet the others at the Temple soon,” said Minji to Bora who appeared in the door frame. She looked oddly small. She was small but her personality always made her appear larger than what she was.   
  
“Yeah…okay.” She turned to go.   
  
Minji went to shut the door to change hoping that her heart would finally stop racing.   
  
-/-/-/-   
  
The drive was quiet as they made their way to the Temple.   
  
Skipping up the stone steps, they trailed along the pathway around to the back and slipped inside to the Briefing Hall. It was separate from the main hall where tourists could come, believing it to be just another building lost in time.   
  
The room was dimly lit with walls of green and red, ceiling carved in intricate designs and the depictions of hunter battles of old stretched in large murals along the walls. At the far end was a stretched roll of parchment with every name of every hunter painted into it that had passed.   
  
Yoohyeon looked up from the areal map she was examining spread out across a round table that stood in the center of the room. From around a corner, Yubin entered with a set of blueprints, brow creased at the documents. When she saw Minji, her features softened with a greeting nod that she didn’t share with Bora who she completely disregarded.   
  
“Sorry, we’re late.” Minji came up to the table, leaving Bora to hover near the entrance where she stood quietly. “There was a situation.”  
  
“What kind of situation?” asked Yubin.   
  
Glancing back at Bora, Minji filled them in. Yoohyeon’s face paled while Yubin’s jaw set  
  
“Maybe you should stay with us,” Yoohyeon suggested, looking to Yubin for support. “We don’t have an extra room but the couch pulls out.”  
  
Minji shook her head. “I don’t think it would change anything.“   
  
Not only that, she would have to bring Bora along and she knew Yubin didn’t want that. Would never allow it no matter how many restraints they put on her. Restraints that Minji had forgone using as of late. She didn’t think she needed to. She didn’t need to.   
  
“If what Bora says about them being a Seer is true,” she continued, “then we have worse problems. Yubin already said so. They’ve been watching and listening. They know too much.”  
  
“That doesn’t make sense.” Yoohyeon leaned over to prop her elbows on the table, flipping silver strands of her fringe out of her eyes. “If they know Bora has been working with us and what we’re going after, why not stop us? Why aren’t they attacking back? Why just spy on us when they could kill us?”  
  
“Intimidation,” Bora spoke up. She hesitated to step forward, waiting on Minji’s nod to do so and stopped on her left. “They want you to know that they’re onto you. Or me.”  
  
Minji’s eyes narrowed, searching Bora’s face for the meaning of the strange wash of concern she found there. For some reason, she felt like there was more to it than Bora was letting on. “A way to keep us looking over our shoulders but never knowing exactly when they’re going to come.”  
  
Bora nodded in agreement.  
  
Yoohyeon’s brow furrowed. “Do you have any idea who?”  
  
Her mouth opened to speak but closed as she shook her head, eyes pulling away. “I wasn’t able to catch their scent.”  
  
“Useless,” Yubin mumbled under her breath.   
  
The muscles in Bora’s neck tightened.  
  
“We’ll worry about it later,” Minji swooped in, tossing a hard glance in Yubin’s direction. “Let’s go over the plan.”  
  
“This is the shipping yard Bora said they’ve been using for their weapons supply.” Yubin pointed to a spot on the map. Yoohyeon shuffled around to join her and Minji leaned over the opposite side, peering across. “It’s been abandoned for a few decades. The city was working to clean up the site but cleanup stopped a few years ago and went into the ownership of someone new.”  
  
“It has to be Sparrow.”  
  
“What else do we need to know?” Yoohyeon turned up to Bora who has returned to her spot against the wall.   
  
At the address, she stepped forward. “The yard also acts as a base. New recruits are taken there to train. Others use it as a sparring ground but it’s the main storage facility.”  
  
Yubin sucked a breath through her teeth. “That means it’ll be crawling with bleeders.”  
  
“The point is to get rid of their weapons, not engage,” Minji reminded. “We wait to do that.”  
  
“We'll never even get to the weapons if they get to us first.”  
  
“We burn them out,” said Yoohyeon, snapping her fingers at the idea. “It’ll do both jobs—scatter the bleeders so they’re easier to pick off and with that much ammunition, the yard will explode. The weapons will be destroyed.”  
  
Fingers drummed on Minji’s lips as she considered. “Will Sparrow be there?”  
  
Bora shook her head. “No, but they’ll surface.”  
  
“What exactly do you get out of this?” asked Yubin.   
  
All eyes turned to Bora. She looked to each face, landing on Minji last who gave her an encouraging nod.   
  
“Let’s just say that Sparrow and I have a score to settle.”  
  
“You couldn’t do that yourself?”  
  
“Sparrow doesn’t fight their own battles unless they have to. That’s why I exist. We do the fighting and we do the dying while they get the glory. What we’ve done has shown the others that Sparrow isn’t as untouchable as they thought. It—“  
  
“Weakens them,” Minji filled in, slotting the pieces together slowly in her head. “Less and less will want to follow a leader who can’t stand against a few humans. Especially if it's the ones they said they would take down. Think about it, they wouldn’t have to send someone to intimidate us if we weren’t making progress. It’s all for show. If we take the shipping yard, it’ll force them out of hiding—to show the coven that they aren’t weak and still have everything under control.”  
  
“And that’s when I’ll take their head and you all get to gloat,” Bora finished. “Are there any more questions here?”  
  
“Why?” It was Yoohyeon this time. “If Sparrow wants to make a place where you aren’t being killed and you can live freely, why take them down?”  
  
“You may be comfortable with the cult you’re in but some of us have brains. It’s not that we don’t want to be free it’s how it’s being done.”  
  
“What are you? Some vampire saint who wants peace and harmony?” Yubin scoffed. “Give me a break.”  
  
“I’ll give you a break. Right in the stiff, little neck—“  
  
“Stop.” Minji placed a hand on Bora’s shoulder, instantly quieting her. The snarl on her lips morphed into an apologetic frown. “It doesn’t matter,” Minji said to her, voice gentle as she shook her head and turned back to the others. “What matters is that we have the same goal right now. Weakening Sparrow. The shipping yard is our focus. So stay focused.”  
  
Her eyes scanned each face around the table, lingering on Yubin who was staring hard back at her. Minji removed her hand from Bora’s shoulder letting it drop against the table.   
  
“Now,” she cleared her throat, “we have an idea of a plan but we need to know what we’re dealing with before moving in. If they know we’re going to strike there next, they’ve probably added more security. Someone should scope the area.”  
  
Yubin raised her hand. “I’ll go.”  
  
Minji nodded. “One of us should go with you.”  
  
“I will,” said Yoohyeon before Minji could say anything and offered a soft smile to their leader. “You still need to rest. We’ll report back everything we find out.”  
  
“Okay. Give it a few days before going. That’ll help throw them off our movements,” Minji finished up.   
  
On Yubin and Yoohyeon’s nod, she dismissed the meeting, helping Yoohyeon refold the map while Yubin stacked up blueprints and stored them into a folder.   
  
“Minji.”  
  
She paused where she was headed to follow Yoohyeon to the weapon’s cache to check their stocks and turned back to Yubin who called her.   
  
“A word?”  
  
Nodding Yoohyeon ahead, she told Bora to wait with a glance and followed Yubin out of the Temple to the side of the building where they stopped.   
  
“What is it?”  
  
“It’s about Bora.” Checking over her shoulder, Yubin stepped in close, lowering her voice so that only they could hear. “I know you want to trust her but you can’t forget what she is. No matter how good she seems—”  
  
“I know, Yubin,” Minji cut her off. She didn’t want to argue about Bora with her anymore. She didn’t want to keep having this back and forth that never changed. “I know what has to be done. I haven’t forgotten.”  
  
Eyebrows quirked upward. “You haven’t?”  
  
Minji tensed, taking a step forward so Yubin had to crane her neck back to look at her. “Are you doubting _me?”_ she asked, voice low and even and eyes held on the dark ones before her. “I have devoted my entire life to the clan and put my life on the line for you and Yoohyeon more times than I can count. Before anything or anyone, there are the hunters and there is my team.”  
  
“Sometimes it feels like that team has one more on it. One that doesn’t belong.”  
  
Minji’s fingers curled into fists at her side before she let them relax, holding herself back from letting her defenses get the best of her. “There are only three and there is only one way this will end. Bora will burn like the others. I’ll light the match myself.”  
  
“Do you promise?”  
  
No, she couldn’t promise. Because she had promised Bora the opposite and that was the promise she would hold onto.   
  
“I made that promise the night I put my first dagger in that vampire’s chest. Don’t question me again.”  
  
Yubin took a step back, eyes dropping. “Yes, ma’am.”  
  
Minji straightened out. “While I’m on rest, I’m leaving you in charge. Patrols are crucial right now. We’ll come back together at the end of the week.”  
  
With a nod, Yubin stepped away and Minji relaxed. Back leaning against the side of the temple, she closed her eyes and let out a breath.   
  
“You’ll light the match yourself, huh?”  
  
Minji’s lashes fluttered open. This time she couldn’t help the smile that echoed the one Bora gave her. “Not unless you give me a reason to.”  
  
“You mean—” she slinked her body up against Minji’s, pressing her shoulders back against stone—"these aren’t reason enough?” Her fangs flashed, sharp and milky.  
  
Minji’s chest fluttered at the sight of them, at the weight against her, at the closeness of Bora’s lips, close enough that she could feel the brush of her breath as she chuckled a dark sound deep in her chest. It tumbled through Minji, sparking tingles beneath the surface of her skin and sparking a strange sort of heat in her gut.   
  
Minji swallowed, hands flexing against Bora’s arms where they had dropped to grasp, barely holding her at bay. “Not if you keep them to yourself.”  
  
“Betraying your clan isn’t really a shining show of loyalty,” Bora parroted her words back at her.   
  
“I do what I need to do to help others survive.”  
  
Red eyes narrowed a fraction before they let up and she peeled away, allowing Minji to catch the breath that had been stolen from her.   
  
Following her out the gates, Minji wondered who was going to end up being the death of her. Sparrow and this mission or Bora in herself.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Minji stood at the window, staring out at the evening slowly descending into night. She checked the lock on it again just to make sure. She couldn’t tell if anyone else had come by but ever since they confirmed that someone was watching, there was an unsettling knot in her stomach.   
  
Looking down at her phone, she checked the screen. Still nothing. Yoohyeon and Yubin would’ve already been at the shipping yard by now. She wished she could be there but Yoohyeon was right. She still needed rest if she expected to be able to join them for the second phase of the mission later. She hoped they could pull it off.   
  
“You need to relax.”  
  
Minji turned to find Bora walking into her room. It was strange not seeing her in cuffs, bound only to the living room and couch with hardly any distance to go. It just seemed so unnecessary to use the restraints now. And if someone else snuck through the window, it was better to have Bora free in case she needed her. At least that’s what she told herself was the reason.   
  
“I just want to know they’re okay.” Minji turned to the window again as if she could see past all the buildings across town. It wasn’t like her to stay behind. It made her uneasy and not hearing anything for a while made her worry. She was always there. Always on the scene. That was her job. To be there. To lead.   
  
“They’re trained killers, they’ll be fine. Loosen up.” Bora gripped her shoulders and rolled her fingers into the tense plain of muscle  
  
Minji relaxed into the touch before she flared and pulled away from Bora who tossed her a curious look. She turned away and began for the living room aware of the way the places Bora touched her tingled. “I should work on the details of the next phase while we wait.”  
  
“Or,” Bora started, following after her, “we can go somewhere.”  
  
Minji moved to the dining table where she had set the blueprints and map along with her journal marked up in notes and details and strategies. “Like?”  
  
“Somewhere to take your mind off things.” Bora shrugged and hopped over the back of the couch, landing perfectly on the balls of her feet on the cushion. “Let out all the pent up frustration you’ve been holding onto.”  
  
Minji pulled a face.   
  
“Come on. When’s the last time you got to do something for yourself? And I’m great company. Remember the park?”  
  
She rolled her eyes in attempts to cloak the power of sway Bora had in those words. She did remember the park. All too clearly.   
  
No. She shouldn’t.   
  
“I need to wait on the others.”  
  
“You can bring your phone, you know. It’s mobile.”  
  
Minji sighed. “Okay.”  
  
“Yes!” Bora pumped a fist in the air.  
  
She bit her lip to hold back her smile. “But we can’t be out long. As soon as I get a text that they need me—”  
  
“We’ll leave.”  
  
“Thank you.”  
  
Grabbing her holster, she secured her revolver under her arm and made sure her knives were at her back before pulling on her jacket and trailing after Bora out the door.   
  
The night was crisp with a faint bite that cut through leather to the tucked in long sleeve shirt beneath. Minji held her hands in her pockets, forgoing the car to take the sidewalk. Bora led the way, suspiciously too comfortable in her crop top sweater and jeans. Minji guessed she blended in well enough for no one to question why she wasn’t bothered by the cold.   
  
The night was alight with life. Minji allowed herself to soak it in as they walked. She had few nights off in the past and even fewer that included Yubin and Yoohyeon with her. With families, they often visited parents and siblings who were stationed in other sects a bus or train ride away. The times they did get together were late, spent out on tables under street food vendor tents, or tucked into the back of a place to eat quickly before having to head home and to bed to face the next day.  
  
Freedom and free time were a luxury for hunters and fun was a concept few of them knew. With assigned sects to teams to patrol and monitor, it left little room for much else. Minji never thought to be bothered by it until she met Bora.   
  
She was carefree. Spontaneous. She stirred up things in Minji she had locked away.   
  
“How about a bar?”  
  
Minji scrunched her nose as they slowed in front of one with attractive signage. Through the windows, she saw groups of people. Some fanned out along the bar with bartenders handing drinks and taking orders. Others were tucked into booths and some peppered at standalone tables spread across the floor with food and drinks and laughs.   
  
It looked inviting but, “No.” Bars were pointless. Hunters were discouraged from indulging in drink. One wouldn’t hurt but if Yubin and Yoohyeon needed her, she wanted her senses to be at their full capacity.   
  
“Okay, then.” Bora continued walking. “Next best thing.”  
  
Neon green and white lights that spelled out words in stylized text came up next shining above an entrance of two, heavy metal doors. A stanchion lined patrons up as a bouncer checked IDs and allowed groups in who paid just inside the door.   
  
Ironic. To end up at a club. The very place they met.   
  
“Wait.” Minji stopped causing Bora to have to walk back to her.   
  
“What’s wrong?”  
  
She looked up at the sign. Minji wasn’t fond of clubs. That’s what she thought at least. She never went to one just to go to one. The only reason she stepped into a club was to patrol, to search, to hunt. They were easy places for vampires to blend and they were easy feeding grounds full of humans with raging hormones and veins swimming in intoxication. Easily swayed away from the fray and hidden in corners where what they thought would be a night of pleasure turned into one of death.   
  
What if there was a vampire inside? She didn’t want that. She wanted the night to be painless. Even if she wanted, she couldn’t let one slip her by. Could she?  
  
“I don’t know about this…”  
  
“Oh, come on.” Bora took her wrist, bringing Minji’s eyes down to hers. She was smiling an open-mouthed smile. She looked as relaxed as Minji wished she felt. “I won’t set this one on fire.”  
  
With a tug, Bora pulled her to the entrance and ushered them inside.  
  
The place was different than the one she met Bora in. It had more of a lounge feel than it did a club. The dancefloor wasn’t nearly as packed. Most were at the bar or in booths that lined black windows and tables tucked beneath dim light. A staircase led up to a second landing spread with couches and chairs and a smaller bar lit with soft, blue light.  
  
Minji kept her eyes on the back of Bora’s head as she took them to where bodies moved to the music on a floor that changed colors beneath their feet. She didn’t want to catch the eye of another vampire.   
  
“You are so stiff.”  
  
Minji bit the inside of her lip, watching Bora sway to the music in front of her. Lick magnets, people filled up the spaces on either side of them, trapping them in heat and lights and sound.   
  
“Stop it.” Bora hit her on the arm.  
  
Minji jumped, scowling at her. “Stop what?”  
  
“Being a buzzkill. Can’t you sign off the hunter gig for one night?”  
  
Trying her best, Minji matched the tempo of the music, copying the way others moved around her. She felt...awkward. Dancing wasn’t something she did. Her type of dancing was executing the best choreography to win a fight, double blades brandished and calculating the quick moves of a vampire to come out victorious.   
  
She was out of place in this environment. Something Bora found amusing.   
  
“Don’t laugh at me.”  
  
“I’m going to laugh at you.” And Bora did.   
  
Music changed and hands grabbed for her hips. Minji gripped Bora’s wrists on instinct, crushing them in her fingers and pushing her back. She was met with fierce resistance. Bora came surging forward, wrapping her hands around to the small of Minji’s back so she crushed against her front.   
  
“Bora—“  
  
“Dance.”  
  
Minji peeked at the people around them. Pairs held each other close, bodies pressed into one another. Some nuzzled cheeks into chests while others found smiles and soft kisses in the crooks of necks. Minji’s ears burned as she lifted her arms and draped them over Bora’s shoulders.   
  
“There you go.”  
  
“Do we have to be so close?”  
  
“You don’t like it when I’m close?”  
  
“I didn’t— that’s not—“ Minji’s chest warmed, words lost on a tongue that didn’t work. Bora chuckled and stepped back to a safe distance, hands sliding from her back to her waist where they held loosely.   
  
“Better?”  
  
“Better.”  
  
They swayed. Minji stared at a spot past Bora to keep from having to look at the face she knew was looking back at her.   
  
“You’re not so bad when you’re not stabbing stakes into me.”  
  
Minji allowed herself to glance down. “That was one time.”  
  
“Still hurt.”   
  
That night to now was as if they had come full circle. Minji remembered that night easily. The panic, the urgency, the rush of adrenaline. Bora had been a demon set on creating her own personal hell with that match. She was a sickening piece of an existence without a care.   
  
“If you try anything funny, I’ll do it again.”  
  
“You don’t scare me, princess.”   
  
The force of the crowd eased them closer. Minji’s breath hitched as hips slotted together. She didn’t even need to breathe and she heard Bora do the same, her normally confident exterior faltering when the crowd seemed to expand and they had nowhere else to go but closer still.   
  
The curve of her grin quickly returned and hands slipped away from her hips to her back. “Come here often?”  
  
Minji floundered. “What?”  
  
“Could I buy you a drink?”  
  
“I don’t drink.”  
  
Bora rolled her eyes. “Play along, won’t you?”  
  
“Play along with what?”  
  
She deadpanned. “Has no one ever flirted with you?”  
  
Minji blushed, shaking her head. She couldn’t think of a time. She couldn’t think of a time when she would’ve had the time to entertain something like _that._ She was so focused on her duties. Duties that didn’t seem so important right now. At least not as important as finding all the different flakes of red that were in the browns of Bora’s eyes.   
  
“I don’t believe you.” Bora closed the gap, hands linking once again behind Minji’s back. “How could anyone resist”—her nose bumped beneath Minji’s chin and prodded at her neck when she titled up—“this.”  
  
“Bora.” She felt it again. The flutter in her chest. The waves in her stomach.   
  
“If only you knew the way you smell.” She let out a low stream of air that painted across Minji’s throat, erupting goosebumps across her skin despite the heat surrounding them. “Or how you taste.” Something low rumbled in Bora’s throat. A mix between a sigh and a growl. “If I didn’t have any control, I would’ve ripped your throat out by now.”  
  
That very throat she mentioned tightened. Going dry at the confession. “That’s comforting to know.”  
  
“It should be. It means you’re my type. Maybe we do have a future together.”  
  
Minji choked. She thought back to that moment in her kitchen. Bora against her. Her smell drowning her. The way her words sounded one way but her eyes were wandering and searching. Like she was testing Minji, trying to gauge her reaction. Trying to figure out if...  
  
“Sorry,” Minji pushed out once she finally found her voice. “I’m not into vampires.”  
  
“I think I could change your mind.” Bora hummed, lips brushing the scar on Minji’s neck causing her to twitch. “Can I take you out? Dinner maybe?” She muttered into her ear.   
  
She knew it was all for fun. Wasn’t it? That they were joking, playing into a scene. Weren’t they? Minji’s heart didn’t know that. “And a movie?” she muttered.   
  
The vibration of Bora’s chuckle tickled through her. “Now, you’ve got it.”  
  
“I’m not good at this.” She was far too flushed and she was hot, burning up beneath her jacket. She could feel the nervous sweat on her back and the twists in her stomach. She knew her heart was racing but she couldn’t do anything about that. She never could. Not when it came to Bora. Never when she was this close.  
  
“Good thing you’re pretty.”  
  
Minji felt her smile pull before she could stop it. “You think I’m pretty?”  
  
She felt Bora stiffen against her. “No.”  
  
“I guess you are, too. For a vampire.”  
  
“Pretty?” Bora pulled back to see her face. “I’m irresistible.”  
  
Minji smirked. “Who tells you that?”   
  
Surging forward, teeth snapped at her. Minji didn’t flinch. A nose bumped against hers and they froze. The red tint in Bora’s eyes swirled as they looked up into her own. The panic that flashed through them reflected in the prickles that stabbed in Minji’s stomach. The hands at the small of her back tightened at the same time Minji’s arms locked harder around Bora’s neck.   
  
“Stop freaking out,” said Bora. Though if she was telling Minji that or herself, Minji didn’t know. “I don’t kiss on the first date.”  
  
Minji’s veins turned to fire. Her stomach flipped. She couldn’t stop herself from looking down past the fine slope of Bora’s nose to her mouth that was held slightly parted, a few teeth peeking through. They were lovely and pink. The bottom one fuller than the top. An inviting little strip that begged for something to be done with it.   
  
Minji had to swallow past the lump in her throat to keep her voice from cracking. “You could be the last being on earth and still wouldn’t want to kiss you.”  
  
“What if it was me?” a voice spoke.   
  
The smile on Bora’s face evaporated as hands strung around her waist from behind. A face appeared over her shoulder where a chin rested neatly against the crook of her neck.   
  
Lips curled up in a grin as they spoke. “Hi.”  
  
Bora tensed.   
  
Cold wash over Minji’s entire body. She knew those eyes. Ones that hovered over her in the darkness. And she knew that face, sweet and rounded with an apologetic smile that stuck out from the crowd. The only thing it was missing this time was a sucker. She gasped.   
  
“Enjoying yourself?” They asked.   
  
Bora’s neck bobbed in a swallow. She was scared. Minji didn’t think she had ever seen Bora show true fear. It terrified her and her grip only tightened around her neck, wishing and hoping it was enough to ground her.   
  
“What do you want, Gahyeon?” Bora hissed, her voice hard as the tight pull of her jaw that she flexed.  
  
“Just a dance.” Gahyeon looked to Minji with eyes that flashed a striking shade of bright red. “May I?”  
  
“I—“  
  
“Thanks.”  
  
Hands ripped from her as Gahyeon pulled Bora away.   
  
_“Stay here,”_ Bora mouthed before she was swallowed by the crowd.   
  
Minji hesitated, debating. She held her place for just over ten seconds before she moved.   
  
Shouldering through bodies, she left the dance floor. They couldn’t have gone far. But as she searched through the club, doubling back to the dance floor after checking the second landing, Bora and Gaheyon were nowhere to be found.   
  
Rushing outside, Minji trailed the sidewalk, anxiety steadily rising when she couldn't immediately put her eyes on them. Her heart hammered in her chest in time with her steps that picked up, taking her down along the strip of the buildings where she slipped into the alley between and came up on the corner that led around back.   
  
That’s where she found them.   
  
Bora stood still beneath the greenish-blue tint of a street lamp, neck swiveling to follow Gahyeon who circled her. Whatever relief Minjithought would come didn’t. Not at the way Bora’s muscles were coiled. She watched Gahyeon like a hawk, her eyes not missing a step and her knees slightly bent, ready to spring.   
  
“Why are you here?”  
  
Gahyeon shrugged. “To deliver a message.”  
  
The sigh Bora gave was showy. False. A means to distract from her unease. She crossed her arms over her chest, fingers drumming against her bicep. “Then deliver it.”  
  
“Mommy dearest wants you to know she forgives you for betraying us and that it’s time to come home.”  
  
Sparrow. That’s who they must’ve been talking about.   
  
“What home?”  
  
“Don’t pretend that you weren’t pampered.” Gahyeon scoffed. “We gave you everything you wanted and this is how you repay us.”  
  
“Give? You took everything from me!”  
  
“That’s not what you said when you begged us for help. Is it?”  
  
Bora’s jaw flexed. Gahyeon stopped circling to lean back against the light post. She hardly came across as much of a threat the afternoon Minji bumped into her. She looked like any other teenager. Unassuming and bright. Beneath the street light, she was as menacing as they come, shadows in places that made her red eyes stand out and her features look as sharp as a blade's edge.   
  
“Cute pet by the way,” said Gahyeon. “How is it? Getting your fingers wet by the enemy?”  
  
Bora’s lip curled back in a low growl.   
  
“Oh, wittle Bora didn’t like that, hm?” Gahyeon giggled. It was a grating sound. Sickeningly sweet and demented at the same time.   
  
As much as Bora tried to look unfazed, the red in her eyes told otherwise. “If you have nothing else to say, you can leave. And stop spying on me.”  
  
“You see, I can’t do that.” Gahyeon grinned. “It’s been fun watching you. Mainly sad the way you think any of them actually care about you but it’s given me what I’ve needed to report back. And, oh”—she was on Bora in a breath, fingers pinching her cheek—"have I had a lot to tell.”  
  
Bora slapped her hand away. “What’s the plan?”  
  
“As if I’d tell you that.”  
  
Bora grabbed the wrist of the hand that ruffled her hair. Jerking it away, Gahyeon shoved at Bora’s shoulders, pushing her back a few strides.  
  
“If it was up to me, I would’ve killed you in your sleep!” Gahyeon hissed, fingers stabbing into the center of Bora’s chest. “But it’s not. So, come home?” Lashes batted. “Please, unnie? While you still have a chance.”  
  
Bora waved the hand away. “I’ll take my chances where I’m at.”  
  
Gahyeon’s shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. “She was afraid you’d say that. So I have another message.”  
  
“What is it?”  
  
“A reminder.” Gahyeon hummed, head tilting to one side with an empty pout. “Of how easy you are to crush without us.”  
  
Gahyeon swung.   
  
Minji gasped.   
  
Bora snarled.   
  
She countered, fist slicing through the air at Gahyeon but she was just as quick. She evaded the strike easily, ducking low to send a blow into Bora’s side.   
  
The hit hardly fazed her and Bora grabbed hold of Gahyeon’s arm, yanking her body into the hard point of her knee that shot up to knock deep into her stomach. Elbows came down on Gahyeon’s back, shooting her to the ground where she landed on the tips of her fingers and spun, legs swinging to kick Bora’s from beneath her.   
  
She dropped and Gahyeon pounced, narrowly missing Bora who zapped away. Gahyeon matched her speed and Minji lost sight. Bodies moved in a blur, the sounds of their blows more telling than what could be seen.   
  
A pained cry hit the air as a fist pulled back, pausing just long enough for Minji to see the bladed tips of a pair of cat ear knuckles looped around the fingers of each Gahyeon’s hands.  
  
She hadn’t seen them before. She hadn’t seen where they came from. Minji wasn’t able to draw a breath fast enough to yell a warning before the tips grazed across Bora’s face, instantly drawing blood.   
  
The shock of the cut caught her off guard and Gahyeon swung again, fist connecting into Bora’s side who wailed in pain. The other fist jammed right into her collar, holding her in place for Gahyeon to deliver a swift kick.  
  
Bora dropped, head cracking against the ground. Gahyeon descended on top of her, trapping Bora’s arms against her sides between thighs and the heel of her hand pressed to Bora’s forehead to hold her down.   
  
The click of Minji’s revolver as she pulled back the hammer snapped Gahyeon’s neck up.   
  
“Don’t move,” she snarled past her fangs. There was a wild look in her eyes. One Minji knew too well. The one that made hunters who they were. The one that reminded Minji that there were still demons that walked the earth. “I’m not here for you but that won’t stop me from carving you up, too.”  
  
“Don’t you touch her!” Bora gargled beneath her.   
  
The back of a hand smacked her hard across the face, cutting her up like ribbons.  
  
“See, this is why I was sent to keep an eye on you.” Gahyeon gripped beneath Bora’s chin, squeezing at the sides dripping in black so her cheeks scratched against fangs. “You don’t shut up. We think you’d be a lot better without that pretty, little tongue of yours.”  
  
Gahyeon shook Bora’s face until her mouth fell open, locked in place by the press of fingers in her cheeks that kept her jaw from closing. Bora groaned as Gahyeon pulled at her tongue with her other hand, stretching it further and further out of her mouth until—  
  
Minji pulled the trigger.   
  
And then she went flying, sent hurtling backward at the force of hands that pushed her back.   
  
She hit the pavement. Hard.   
  
Her neck snapped up just in time to see Gahyeon rush back to Bora who had rolled onto her stomach. Gahyeon kicked beneath her jaw and Bora arched backward, using the force of the blow into a flip onto her toes where she crouched, hissing with eyes ablaze and fangs out.   
  
Bora swung, aiming high but Gahyeon went low, dropping down to throw out her foot, the heel of her boot ramming into exposed shines. Bora hollered as each cracked on contact and she crumbled, landing face-first with a cry.  
  
Zipping behind her, Gahyeon wrapped her arms around Bora’s torso, arching her backward into the air. Terror flashed across Bora’s face, eyes pained as they found Minji who was helpless to do anything as Gahyeon squeezed. Bones splintered in a disgusting chorus of sound as they snapped inside of her chest.   
  
“Stop it!” Minji pleaded.   
  
Gahyeon grinned as she let Bora go only to press her knees into her back where she fell forward. She choked beneath the weight, sputtering and wheezing as fingers clawed into her hair and pulled her neck back, forcing it to bend at a horrifying degree, straining the skin around her throat that went white.   
  
“Siyeon says hello,” Gahyeon slithered into Bora’s ear. “Or she would…” she chuckled. “If she could speak.”  
  
Bora’s eyes widened.   
  
Minji fired.   
  
The force of the bullet blew Gahyeon’s arm back where it struck her bicep. Another sang through the air and buried in her shoulder.  
  
“Didn’t I say stay out of this?” Gahyeon stood, taking a step forward, eyes set on Minji who held her gun in trembling hands.   
  
She shot again. Gahyeon barely flinched as the bullet hit her stomach.   
  
Minji pulled the trigger. Again. And again.   
  
The gun left her hand at the same time Gahyeon reached in a lunge of a sprint. She pushed, lifting Minji into the air as she rushed her backward into a chain-link fence where she bounced off, shooting her forward with enough force to—  
  
Gahyeon sucked in a breath.   
  
She stumbled back, wide eyes down on the hilt of the knife sticking out from her chest.   
  
With a yell, Minji slammed the sole of her boot into her stomach, bringing her down onto the ground. Lips curled back, fangs bared up at her. Minji spun, cracking her heel into the side of Gahyeon’s face sending her sprawling onto the ground where she remained.   
  
“Bora!”  
  
She ran, sliding across the pavement where she dropped by Bora’s side. Her fingers shook as she brushed hair away from her face. She was so cold. Colder than Minji had ever felt her.   
  
“Bora?” She held her palm against her cheek, trying for anything. A smirk. A bat of the lash. A smile. “Bora, please.”  
  
But she didn’t get up.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Minji set the stopper in place and turned the water on. It filled the tub steadily, soaking into the soiled and tattered clothes that clung to Bora’s frame. She was a mess.   
  
Minji panted as she worked, her own body screaming in protest with every move she made but she didn’t slow down. Grabbing a knife, she cut into Bora’s shirt around the rips that were already there and peeled it away from her body leaving her in only what was underneath.   
  
Jeans came next and she struggled to slink them away, grimacing at the bruising she found on milky thighs. The places Gahyeon had struck the blades of her knuckles were ugly, purple scars and the places her bones had been broken and shattered were distorted and strange.   
  
It was hard for Minji to look. It had been even harder for her to get Bora back to her apartment. She hadn’t wanted to move her for fear that it would mess with her healing but they couldn’t stay in the streets. Not if Gahyeon who had gotten away when Minji wasn’t looking may have been lurking around a corner, ready to strike at any moment.   
  
Bora was heavier when she was unconscious. Literal deadweight. Minji carried her on her back into the tub. She hoped she would be okay. She knew she would be okay but she had never seen a vampire be beaten down as ragged as this.   
  
Tub finally full, she shut the water off. It rippled around Bora’s motionless body a murky tint of gray. Exhausted, Minji slumped to the floor beside the basin, arms folded on the edge where she dropped her forehead with a sigh.   
  
She needed a second to catch her breath.   
  
Everything was too much. From Bora to Gahyeon to what was said. To what wasn’t said. More questions popped up and more fears added to the ones Minji already had. Doubts about if they were enough to finish what they started. If she was strong enough to pull her team through. If she would be able to help Bora in the end.   
  
She didn’t know. She just didn’t know.   
  
Grabbing a sponge from beneath the sink, Minji squirted shower gel onto it and touched it to the side of Bora’s neck, scrubbing away the flakes of black and worked to erase the smears of it across her collar.   
  
“We’re going to have to stop ending up like this.”   
  
Minji looked up to find Bora’s weak grin, eyes held in heavy slits.  
  
Minji shook her head, teeth poking through in a smile. “Stop getting hurt.”  
  
“Can’t. Hurt is my middle name.” She coughed with a whine.   
  
“Careful,” Minji warned. She didn’t know how many ribs Gahyeon had broken. All she knew was that the cracking sound when she crushed Bora was sickening. “Are you healing okay?”  
  
She hummed a reply and lolled her head along the wall.   
  
“Bora?”  
  
“Rest,” she muttered. “Tired.”  
  
Minji nodded and kept running the sponge across the patches, cleaning up the cuts that slowly sealed up before her eyes.   
  
Putting the sponge aside, she took rubbing out the blood that matted the ends of Bora’s hair, slowly making her way up to her scalp with shampoo on her hands.   
  
“That feels nice.”  
  
“Can you sit forward?”  
  
She leaned and Minji caught the rest of her hair, lathering soapy suds until she figured it was enough. She rinsed it out with water cupped in her hands and combing fingers, erasing the deathly scent with fruits and flowers.   
  
“Minji, I—“  
  
“I know, I know.” She needed to feed. “I need a minute. Let’s get you cleaned up first.”  
  
“What about you?”  
  
“I’m okay.”  
  
“They’re going to hate me. I almost got you killed again.”  
  
She didn’t want to think about what the others would say. Especially Yubin. For the moment, she didn’t care. Even if she knew Bora would heal, she was worried. Being able to heal didn’t erase the pain. Didn’t mean that she wasn’t hurting. Though the look on Bora’s face when Gahyeon spoke her sister's name showed where she hurt the most. That was a spot Minji couldn’t reach with a sponge.   
  
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help you sooner,” said Minji.   
  
“I told you to stay.”  
  
“You knew I wouldn’t.”  
  
“Yeah.” One side of her mouth pulled up. “I knew.”  
  
Minji smiled and scooped water into her palm, pouring it over Bora’s head to wash out the soap.  
  
“Too bad, though.” Bora opened her eyes to heavy slits. They were dark, black pits.“We were having such a good date.”  
  
Minji’s stomach rippled waves, ears buzzing with a blush she knew was there. “Maybe you could take me on another one.” Bora’s eyebrows twitched upward. “One with less stabbing.”  
  
Bora chuckled, soft and wispy. “You’re cute when you’re trying to be funny.”  
  
Minji let the water drain and helped Bora up. She sat on the edge of the tub as Minji dried her off.   
  
“I’m going to lay you down.”  
  
Getting Bora to the bed, Minji let her sprawl across the mattress. She looked so small there.   
  
“I’ll be back. Okay?”  
  
“I’ll be here.”  
  
Minji washed herself up quickly and left the shower to be cleaned out later. She didn’t have the strength to do it then. She didn’t have the patience or the mind to. Her mind was all on Bora. On the torture she was put through. On the way, she had been broken apart little by little. On how she was taunted and mocked and ripped apart.   
  
“Come here.”  
  
She pulled Bora half into her lap where she sat on the bed, cradling her in her arms. Her face rested against Minji’s collar, nose bumping up at the old scar she had opened many times by now.   
  
Her heart raced all those times the way it did now as she allowed it once again, head back against the headboard and eyes closed.   
  
“I’m sorry,” Bora muttered before her lips closed over her neck.   
  
Minji held her in place, eyes squeezing tight. She wanted to say that it was okay. She didn’t have to apologize. Because at this point Minji knew she would open her veins for her again. Again and again and again.   
  
Even if one of those times stopped her heart. 


	5. Part 4

Minji woke to the smell of honey and cream. The smell of warmth and summer mixed with the sweet hint of petals. It was so...soothing, beckoning her to draw back into slumber. To grab onto the wisps of sleep that were slowly fading away and bring them back.   
  
Her eyes opened slowly to the dim morning light that touched the bedroom through a split in the curtains. Black hair spread out below her chin and cool, cool skin pressed into her front, balled up tight against the length of her frame.   
  
She stilled as reality snapped into place. When she realized who was tucked into her arms with a hand gripping her shirt as if it was a tether to hold them grounded. Minji didn’t want to think, past the flurries of panic and shock and the rapid uptick in her heart, that she was entirely too comfortably like this. That Bora fit neatly against her, one leg slipped between her thighs so that they were tangled.   
  
She pinched her eyes shut trying to remember how it happened. How they had gotten like this. It was as hazy as her head felt now but there were parts she could remember. Like the way Bora hungrily fed from her, whimpering desperately against her neck begging for, _“more, just a little more”_ that Minji gave.  
  
Her world had gone black sometime in the midst of it all, leaving her morning with memories foggy around the edges and a vampire held in an intimate embrace.   
  
“Calm down,” Bora’s voice came muffled from where her face was buried in the cotton fabric of her shirt, nose nuzzled into her chest. “This is awkward for me, too.”  
  
Minji swallowed to wet her throat. Bora’s scent was overpoweringly delicious. It was so sweet. Calming as the timbre of her early morning voice. It made her think back to the words they shared in the club, quiet and playful but charged. Made her think back to how she was the one in Bora’s arms then, held secure against her, drawn into the depths of her eyes and teased by the pink of her lips.   
  
She flushed. “I’m calm.”  
  
“No, you’re not.”  
  
Bora pulled back enough for Minji to see her face. Her eyelids were heavy over swirls of red, newly bright and striking. Her smooth cheeks were palpable and her mouth just as soft. She looked up at Minji with that unguarded look again. The one that showed a little more vulnerability than people like them were used to. It made Minji want to cradle her in closer, tell her it was okay, and not let her go.   
  
“I can hear your heart beating.”  
  
“It’s always beating.”  
  
“Not like this.” Bora hummed in thought, eyes turning down to space where her heart lay just below. “At least not always.”  
  
Minji pushed her shoulder but Bora clung to her, scooting forward to press her mouth against Minji’s throat. She sucked in a breath when she felt Bora chuckle, lips brushing the sensitive skin there. Her nose dragged along to the side of her neck, chilly breath making Minji shiver as she grazed the tender spot of the cut.  
  
She heard Bora’s breath hitch and her muscles tighten.   
  
“Do you need to…are you hungry?”  
  
“No,” she responded through clenched teeth. “I’m okay.” But she didn’t move away.   
  
Minji heard her breathe in slowly, reminding her of what Bora said the previous night. About the way she smelled and the way she tasted. She wondered if Bora knew the way she smelt. The way it made Minji wonder what it tasted like.   
  
She quickly banished the thought from her mind, willing the pits that she’d been tumbling down lately to seal back shut. She couldn’t think of Bora like that. Could she?   
  
“How do you have so much self-control?” she asked.   
  
“Lots of training.” Bora let out the breath she took in, still nosing the tender skin. Minji bit the inside of her lip, eyes closed as she tried not to think too much about how Bora was making her heart race faster. How heat was beginning to wash through her. “You put a lot at risk to keep something you hate alive.”  
  
“I don’t hate you.” It came out breather than Minji would’ve liked.   
  
Bora pulled back again and Minji saw the look of surprise before it was whisked away by something devious.   
  
“You mean you’re not afraid that I might kill you in your sleep?” She yanked Minji’s shirt, forcing her closer with a growl that vibrated against her neck that she pressed back into. “You’re not afraid of how easy it would be for me to rip out your throat with my teeth?”  
  
“B— Bora.” Minji stuttered when she felt those very teeth prick on either side of her windpipe, locking her right between lethal jaws. “What are you doing?”  
  
She chuckled as she pulled her mouth away and licked her lips, the action causing the wet muscle to graze across Minji’s skin. “Testing you for a change.”  
  
Minji squeaked. Bora moved so fast.   
  
She was put on her stomach easily, arms held behind her back where thighs straddled her legs, holding her in place. Cool, breath blew across the back of her neck and over the shell of her ear where Bora lowered.   
  
“Maybe it’s not my fangs you’re afraid of.” Her lips parted in an audible grin as she whispered, "Maybe it’s that you like seeing them.”  
  
Minji pushed back with her shoulder, sending them rolling onto the floor. Bora wheezed as her back hit the hardwood, shocking her just long enough for Minji to twist around and pin her down, tiny wrists clutched in rough fingers above her head.   
  
“I’m not afraid of you.”   
  
Rising, Bora snapped at her playfully with her teeth. Minji forced her back down, dropping so they fell chest to chest. Noses bumped. Minji gasped. Bora blinked. She pulled her lip between her teeth and her eyes turned up to Minji’s dark and lidded, crimson on full display.   
  
A second ticked by. They didn’t move. Minji held her gaze on Bora’s trying to decipher the mix of things she saw there. Trying to decipher the mix of things she felt in herself. In her stomach. In her chest. Across her skin that rippled in goosebumps when she tasted Bora’s breath against her lips that sat beneath hers barely apart.   
  
“This wasn’t the morning after I was expecting but I like where it’s headed.”  
  
Minji burned, heat spreading up her neck and blotching cheeks in red. She tried to draw away when legs wrapped around her from behind, locking her in place.   
  
“Where are you going? We’re just getting to the good part.”  
  
Minji took in a shaky drag of air, thrown off by the tender husk of Bora’s voice. By the possessive way she held her in place. By the way she didn’t mind if Bora didn’t let her go.   
  
“I don’t know of anything good that could come out of this.”  
  
“I could think of a few things.” Her eyes dropped to Minji’s mouth, licking her lips in the process. “Can’t you?”  
  
“Bora.”  
  
“Princess?” The tip of her nose touched Minji’s again as Bora tilted her chin up slightly, voice dipping to a whisper. “I know you can. I smell it all over you.”  
  
Electricity zapped through every nerve in her body bringing a shiver that snaked the length of her spine. “Bora, we—“  
  
A knock tapped on the front door. She felt Bora’s legs tighten slightly, a silent way to tell her to leave it. Don’t go. Minji’s hands flexed around the wrists still held in her grasp.   
  
The knocks sounded again.   
  
“I— I have to answer it,” she muttered.   
  
Bora was slow to let her go, legs falling away one at a time and Minji got up, tossing a glance over her shoulder at Bora who remained sprawled on the floor as she closed the bedroom door behind her.   
  
She wiped clammy palms on the fabric of her pajama bottoms before carting them through her hair to tame it back into place before answering.   
  
Yubin’s face filled up the frame with eyebrows quirked curiously up at her.   
  
“Sorry, it’s early,” she offered. Minji noticed the cups of coffee bought at a shop up the street in her hands. She accepted one as Yubin stepped in. “I wanted to go over the information we collected as soon as possible.”  
  
Minji led them over to the table, glancing at the bedroom as they passed. She knew what Yubin had to report was important. The mission was important. But she itched to return to the bedroom, to Bora, to whatever the atmosphere in there was that still lingered making her feel flushed. The coffee wasn’t helping but it did do a bit to curb the haze in her mind.   
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
“Huh?” Minji caught Yubin looking back at her, eyes slightly narrowed as she examined her face. The last splotches of red were slow to leave her cheeks. “I’m fine. Didn’t sleep well.”  
  
Yubin nodded with a hum, mentioned about restlessness caused by the vampire spying on them before reaching into the satchel she wore slung across her chest. She was dressed comfortably for the morning: Dark blue track jacket with white stripes on the arms and jeans. She looked a little tired like she hadn’t gotten any sleep. She probably hadn’t. Minji was one to stay up, mewling over plans. Yubin was, too.   
  
Photographs spilled out onto the table from a folder and Minji sat down in one of the chairs to look over them as she sipped from the hole in the top of the cup. The taste reminded her of a few mornings ago, standing in the kitchen with Bora who made her a whole pot. Something changed in that morning between them and Minji had been tumbling deeper into the pit ever since.   
  
“What did you find out?” she asked, shaking memories away to concentrate on the task at hand and not the vampire on the other side of the wall.   
  
From the images, it was easy to see that the shipping yard was fairly destroyed. Worn by time and weather. Many details were missing from the darkness of the photos but there was enough to gather.   
  
“I think most of the place has been left untouched,” Yubin started, leaning her palms on the table where she stood. “We saw a few bleeders. Maybe fifteen or twenty?” Finding a few pictures, she slid them out of the arrangement for Minji to see the figures in them. “It’s hard to tell if there are more. They’re using the old office buildings and some of the containers have been moved.”  
  
“Moved how?”  
  
She pointed and Minji followed the tip of her finger to a cluster of images. Each showed a few containers that had been lined up parallel to one another.   
  
“These three stood out from all the others. They were positioned in the central part of the yard that we think is their main area of commune. Everything else around it is pretty beat up.”  
  
Minji nodded and slid a few other images closer to look at. She could see everything Yubin mentioned. The yard was far too large to utilize the entire space. It made sense if they had made a base of operation with their main focus and assets fanned around it as a form of protection and guarding. That must be where they were holding the weapons.   
  
Minji swallowed the gulp of coffee in her mouth. “Is there a way around? Any way to bypass signaling our presence to get to the containers?”  
  
Yubin hummed as she stood up straight, arms crossing as she thought, chewing on her lip. “Maybe far east from the main gate. The area is dense and we couldn’t make out what was there but it would provide enough cover to get close.”  
  
“We could use the cover and round to the coastal side of the yard.” Minji found a photo that showed the back portion of the shipping yard. The area along the outer edge was a rubble of broken-down ships and abandoned docks and ports. “We can come in that way. I doubt they’d expect anyone to show up from that angle.”  
  
Yubin narrowed her eyes. “We still need to figure out how to set the fire.” She snapped her fingers when an idea hit her. “Smoke bombs. We use those first to camouflage our presence and confuse the bleeders. Once we’re set in place, we use lighter fluid and set fire to the containers.”  
  
Minji nodded. It could work. Fifteen to twenty vampires was a lot but it was manageable if they didn’t have to or try to engage with each of them. The job called for at least six hunters and a part of her wanted to give into Yubin’s suggestion of telling the Headhunters. They could contact hunters in other sects to aid in the operation but Minji hesitated like she did before. She didn’t trust them. Not with Bora so interwoven into the framework of their plan. Not when all of their actions would come under heavy scrutiny.   
  
She knew in the back of her mind that one day they would have to come clean. They would have to report to the Headhunters but Minji was determined to delay the inevitable. To do so now would disrupt the process and she didn’t want to waste any more time, allowing Sparrow the opportunity to repair the damage they had wrought on them so far.   
  
“We’ll need to be fully geared for this,” said Minji. If they weren’t going to have the numbers, they at least should be over-prepared themselves. “I’ll stock what we need from the weapons cache.”  
  
“Yoohyeon and I will get the smoke bombs and lighter fluid.” She drummed her fingers on her lips. “Is there anything else?”  
  
Minji shuffled the photos back into a stack, her eyes drifting past Yubin to the couch that wasn’t occupied the way it used to be. Bora.   
  
Her stomach twisted in anxious knots. She probably shouldn’t ask Yubin but after the previous night, she couldn’t stop thinking about how pained Bora looked when Gahyeon mentioned her sister. Mentioned Siyeon. Minji’s heart broke for her and she only hoped Yubin would understand what she was about to say because when it came to the team, helping one another out was always a priority.   
  
“There is one thing I want to add to the plan.” Minji flicked her eyes up in time to see Yubin raise her eyebrows, waiting for her to continue. Her mouth went dry, heart in her throat. “Sparrow has Bora’s sister held captive. We make extracting her part of the plan.”  
  
Yubin didn’t miss a beat. “No.”  
  
“What do you mean no?”  
  
“It's a no.” Her jaw tightened. “Do we even know _where_ she’s being held?”  
  
Minji faltered. “No, but—“  
  
“No!” Her hand slapped against the table causing Minji to flinch. “This is already a suicide mission and you want to add on something else that could get us killed. Something that doesn't even matter.”  
  
“We do it after the shipping yard,” Minji tried, holding her voice as calm as she could against the rising anger she could see in Yubin. “When Sparrow surfaces we can figure out where—“  
  
“I said, no.”  
  
Minji’s jaw set. “Ex _cuse_ me?”  
  
“When Sparrow surfaces, we kill them. We kill Bora, her sister, and anyone else who stands in our way.” Her neck snapped around, whipping her head back to the living room before swinging back to Minji. “Where is she?”  
  
Minji had never felt the blood drain out of her quicker. Cold washed through her entire body, stomach plummeting. “She’s resting.”  
  
“Where?”  
  
Minji stilled   
  
Yubin spun on her heels   
  
“Yubin, wait—“ Minji rushed out of her chair, failing to catch her before the bedroom door swung open with a push.   
  
Bora sat up from where she had moved back to the bed. She blinked those sizzling red eyes, black hair falling across her face that she pushed back with a hand, tips tickling collarbones that peaked from the shirt that hung off one shoulder. The way the sun hit her made her luminous. Minji lost her breath the moment their eyes met.   
  
Fist curled at Yubin’s side. Minji could see the tension coiling from her neck to her shoulders and down her back that went rigid.   
  
“Get out.”  
  
“Yubin, no.” Minji darted around her, holding her back with a hand on her shoulder. “She was hurt—“  
  
Yubin threw her arm away, taking another heavy step toward the bed. “Get out!”  
  
Bora held her hands up in defense, glancing to Minji for help as Yubin advanced. “Whoa, chill out. Listen to your leader.”  
  
“I said”—Yubin reached for her—“Get. Out!”  
  
Hands caught a fistful of hair and pulled. Bora yelled as she was yanked across the bed, fingers clawed around Yubin’s arm to wrench her away. Minji knew she could get away easily. She knew it would take Bora nothing to send Yubin flying with a kick but she didn’t.   
  
“Let go!” Bora snarled, legs kicking out against the sheets and a hand reaching to grab the headboard that slipped against her palm.   
  
“Yubin, stop!” Minji yelled, grabbing her by the back of her jacket and pulled.   
  
The force of it drew Yubin back and Bora with it. She fell onto the floor with a boney thud against the hardwood.   
  
“Yubin!” Minji stepped between them, palm flattened against her teammate’s chest to hold her back. “Enough!”  
  
“Enough?” Yubin laughed, the sound of it biting. “Enough with you!” The slap of her palm when she smacked Minji’s hand away hurt. “How can you even defend her? She’s nothing, Minji. She’s a _vampire._ A month ago, you wouldn’t have hesitated to put a dagger through her heart and now you’re _sleeping_ with her?”  
  
Minji foundered, the accusation hitting her deep in the pit of her stomach that rippled at the thought. “That’s— no! We didn’t— it’s not how it looks!”  
  
“Isn’t it?” Yubin stepped forward, closing in on her fast. “How can you even stand to be touched by her? It’s disgusting.”  
  
“How can you stand to be so blind?” She pushed Yubin back, forcing her away if only to be able to breathe. “It’s you—it’s the hunters—who are disgusting. Maybe if we stopped using iron to solve all our problems—“  
  
“Vampires aren’t just a problem. They’re a disease! Now you’ve let one infect you.”  
  
Minji gawked, her voice rising an octave in her disbelief. “Yubin, listen to what you’re saying.”  
  
“Listen to yourself. You’ve been nothing but selfish since we decided not to get rid of her in the beginning. Now I know why.”  
  
“Everything I’ve done since the fire has been for you!” Minji pleaded, hands curled against her chest where it felt like her heart would fly out if she didn’t hold it in. “For the clan.”  
  
“No, it hasn’t. And the reason I know is right there!”  
  
Minji followed the forceful point of Yubin’s finger to Bora on the floor, legs pulled beneath her and back pressed against the wall in a cower, small and vulnerable. Nothing like the monstrosity of the vampires they had vanquished or learned about.   
  
It was then that Minji fully and completely knew that the hunters were wrong. They had always been wrong. About why they did what they did. About the beings they did those things to. About their own place in the world above all else, painting themselves to be saviors in a supernatural war between man versus monster that no one else knew of or could see.   
  
She saw Bora there with veiled fear in her eyes and she knew that Bora was not the only one who looked at them and felt that same way. That there were others who just wanted a home, a _family,_ a chance at another day but had been condemned to a life of shadows.   
  
Vampires were not the nightmares. They were.   
  
“I think you should leave,” said Minji, voice pitched low and hard.   
  
“When this is over, I will,” said Yubin. “After we’re done, I’m resigning from the team.”  
  
Minji crumbled, the words hitting her like a dagger strong enough to prick tears in the corners of her eyes. No. This couldn’t happen. It couldn’t.   
  
“Yubin—” she took a step forward.   
  
Yubin countered backward, evading the hand that stretched out to her. She shook her head, eyes falling to the floor in the chasm between them.   
  
“I can’t, Minji. Not if this is who you’ve become.”  
  
Eyes made their way up to hers. Minji didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know what to say. There were too many things and not enough time for them.   
  
With nothing more said, Yubin left the room, her retreating footsteps breaking Minji down one after another with the slam of the apartment door snapping everything apart.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
The Temple had always been a place of safety. A place of comfort. It was a place Minji used to run off to, finding solace surrounded by her history and easily reminded of her power and purpose.   
  
That was different now.   
  
She was different now.   
  
Things would be different now.   
  
Yubin’s words echoed in her mind, repeating over and over. She knew where she was coming from. She understood why she said the things that she said. They were the same ones Minji had held onto for years and years and years only for the very framework of her existence to be called into question and collapse.   
  
And there was no going back.   
  
It brought on a sense of loss and confusion. Questions on what she would do now once their mission was over. If Yubin left the team, it would change nothing. They were still hunters and vampires would still be their target. Minji didn’t know if she could continue like that. At least not the way they’d been.   
  
There had to be another away. There had to be something different they could do. There had to be change.   
  
“Minji?”  
  
She looked over at Bora in the passenger seat. She was watching her attentively. Had been since Yubin left. The air had been riddled with tension—the atmosphere stewing with uneasiness. They would have to talk about things again soon but for now, there were more pressing matters   
  
“Sorry. Let’s go.”  
  
They stepped through the Briefing Room that led to the hall where the weapons cache was located. Without the others present, Bora moved freely, drawn by curiosity to the murals and the parchment scroll. Minji stood back and watched as she padded slowly along the hardwood, planks creaking beneath her feet as she went.   
  
Her eyes caught one mural in particular. A scene of three stakes with burning flames, the bodies of vampires strapped to them with rope and a circle of hunters around them with their heads bowed as if in prayer. One of the hunters held a stakedagger in one hand a large, garnet stone in the other, raised to the heavens.   
  
It was a symbolic image. One that gave hunters confidence and entitlement and beliefs for all that they did. That they weren’t just regular humans but granted the ability to vanquish demons by some divine mandate.   
  
Minji could hardly stand to look at the picture anymore. At any of them. “Gruesome, isn’t it?” she said.   
  
Bora hummed in response. “Sparrow tells us that we are the ones who will inherit the throne,” she said. Minji lifted her brow, watching as she stalked over to another mural. “They say that we are superior and humans should fear us. Not the other way around.”  
  
If Minji was told that as a child, she would’ve believed it. Vampires were physically superior to them and their beauty was what any mortal would wish to have. They knew no death other than by the force of it on them, a curse of immortality that humans for centuries wished to obtain.   
  
It was surprising that vampires had been forced into the shadows for so long. That they hadn’t done what Sparrow was trying to do and take over earlier. At least where Minji lived. She couldn’t say much for the rest of the world.   
  
“Do you believe that?” asked Minji.   
  
“I don’t want to believe in anything.”  
  
The way she said it made Minji wonder. “What is it like in the coven?”  
  
Bora’s mouth opened then shut, eyebrows pulling inward. Minji could tell she didn’t like talking about Sparrow or the coven. Unlike Minji who spoke about the clan with honor and pride, Bora spoke about the coven in disdain.   
  
“We serve Sparrow, that’s all,” she said with a shrug. “They’re the master of all of us and we have to obey. You do what you’re told and when to do it. We don’t complain because they gave us what we wanted.” Bora scoffed, hip leaned against the table in the center of the room and arms crossed. “A new life, something to be a part of, protection, _love.”_ Her lip curled up. “Even if it’s false, you start to believe it’s real and it’s better than nothing.”  
  
“Are all covens like that?”  
  
“I don’t know.” Her eyes dropped as she muttered. “I hope not.”  
  
Minji led them out of the Briefing Room back to the Weapons Cache, shoulder braced on the door as she pushed it open. Lights flicked on with the flip of the switch, shining over dark walls that held cases and shelves and racks and pegs of weapons.   
  
Stakedaggers with their quartz hilts, serrated edge blades, bowie knives, and small swords along with rapiers and katanas. Bows, long and short, and an array of arrows with different tips. Chakrams, whips, staffs, and throwing blades. Guns ranging in types and styles along with other equipment that could be used.   
  
Bora winced as she stepped inside, nose wrinkling. The smell of iron was heavy in the air.   
  
Minji grabbed one of the black, weapon cases from a shelf and popped it open. Reaching for the stakedaggers, she began to place a few inside before moving to pick through different knives.   
  
“If so many of you don’t like Sparrow,” said Minji, “why not rebel against them?”  
  
“Being in the coven is better than dying at the hands of hunters.”  
  
It made sense. She pulled a bundle of crossbow bolts from the wall and placed them aside to eye the various guns in a glass case. The latch unhooked with the flick of a finger.   
  
“What if...hunter rules changed.” Minji crouched, securing the guns into the velvet slots in the top portion of the weapons case. “What if we only targeted vampires who wanted to do harm?”  
  
She’d been thinking about that for a while. Ever since Bora. Ever since she started learning the things that she normally wouldn’t have heeded to listen to. Maybe that was the change that needed to happen.   
  
Bora laughed. “That will never happen.”  
  
“But what if?” She stopped packing to look at Bora whose face fell when she realized Minji was being serious. “We could form a treaty between clans and covens. Create a new council that included vampires. Borders even.”  
  
“No hunter will ever listen to us.”  
  
“I’m listening.”  
  
Bora bit into her lip, eyes turning away. She shook her head. “Sparrow never would. And the other covens, they follow what they do.”  
  
“So we get rid of Sparrow.”  
  
“And then someone new takes over. The cycle continues.”  
  
“It could be you.”  
  
Bora snorted.   
  
“I’m serious.” Minji stood, walking over to where Bora was leaning against the far wall. “You could be the leader they need.”  
  
“No, I couldn’t.” Bora looked away. “After what I’ve done, no one will follow me.”  
  
“Hey.” She grabbed Bora’s wrist, bringing her attention up to her face. “You said it yourself that there are others who didn’t have a choice—ones like you who just want to live in peace. It’s not everyone but it is some.” She ducked her head to catch Bkra’s gaze that had turned away. “And there are hunters like me who might be willing to listen and learn.”  
  
Bora stared right back at her, eyes shifting from one of Minji’s to the other. Her bottom lip drew between her teeth, chewing softly in thought. That rough and   
blasé exterior melted away leaving only a scared girl.   
  
“I can’t kill Sparrow,” she said in a nervous huff. “I can’t. I’m not— I’ve never been able to stand up to them. No one has. I only asked for your help because I knew—“ Her head dropped. “I knew sacrificing hunters would’ve been better than getting killed myself.”  
  
Realization hit but the blow was soft. “You used us.”  
  
“It’s— it’s not like that now!” Bora rushed to say. “It hasn’t been...for a while. Not when I realized…” she trailed off, eyes darting anywhere to keep from making eye contact with Minji.   
  
“Whatever the reason was or is,” said Minji, voice calming, “the goal is still the same. Take down Sparrow. You won’t be alone.” Fingers slid down against a cool palm, slipping into the spaces between fingers. Minji curled her hand into Bora’s holding it firm. “I’ll be with you. We all will. You never know what might happen. This could change everything.”  
  
Bora looked down to where their hands were joined.  
“Minji…” her grip tightened as she spoke, voice small as if she was afraid to say them. “Whatever happens, my sister is my priority. I’m doing this for her and only her. If it comes to it, I…”  
  
“I understand.” Minji would do the same if it was Yubin or Yoohyeon. Where her heart lied meant more than anything. More than clans and covens and twisted leaders who needed to be overthrown. If all fell apart, her team would be who she would make sure was safe at the end of the day. “We’ll just have to make sure we get her, too.” Minji smiled.   
  
Bora's gaze drew back up, her lips pulling back. It was such a sweet, girlish look on her. Shy and gentle. Minji felt the urge to hold her face in her hand and stroke her cheek. She felt the need to hold her close, protect her the way she did her team. She felt the need to never let her go. She felt the need to touch her.  
  
Minji gasped, feeling cold against her palm where it pressed to Bora’s face. She nuzzled into the touch, nose brushing across Minji’s thumb. Breath hitched as Bora drew her closer by the hand held between them. Minji’s palm snapped away from her face to brace against the wall behind her, heart spiking and chest pushing into Bora’s unmoving one.   
  
“What if...she’s not the only one I make sure I get?” Her voice was low and sultry.   
  
Minji burned as their noses touched. A chin tilted up, lips barely brushing. She shuddered, electricity shooting through her like lightning. “Bora—“  
  
“Someone’s here.”  
  
Minji flicked her eyes to the entrance just as a head of silver hair peeked around the corner. She drew away from Bora, squaring her shoulders in Yoohyeon’s direction. “Hey.”  
  
“Hey.” Her eyes passed over Minji who could feel the heat in her cheeks and turned to the vampire still flat against the wall. “Bora.”  
  
She tipped her head in her direction, voice shaky. “Yoohyeon.”  
  
“Can I steal you for a second?” Yoohyeon asked to Minji. “If that’s okay.”  
  
She cleared her throat. “Yeah.”   
  
Minji followed Yoohyeon out of the weapons cache, leading through the halls and out into the garden where they stopped beneath one of the large, weeping trees. The day was warmer than usual and shadows that cast along the ground were dark and deep from the high afternoon sun.   
  
“If you’re here to tell me—”  
  
Arms circled her neck in a hug. The embrace was tight and crushing. Yoohyeon couldn't be anything but. Minji was slow to return it, holding her around the waist.   
  
“I’m only here to tell you that I’m sorry,” said Yoohyeon, squeezing a little harder. “Yubin told me what happened with Bora. I know with everything going on, things can get confusing.”  
  
Minji pulled back, brow creasing. “I’m not confused, Hyeonnie.”  
  
Her head tilted very much like a puppy, silvery blonde fringe falling away from her eyes. “I don’t understand.”  
  
“Bora isn’t our enemy,” she said. “Do you know why she took the chance of working with us?”  
  
Yoohyeon shook her head.   
  
Minji told her everything. From where Bora came from, how she ended up with the coven, the control Sparrow had over all of them, and Bora’s sister—the main reason for it all.   
  
“If anyone else told us what she has, we wouldn’t hesitate to help them,” Minji pressed. “Why is it any different because they have fangs? How many others have a similar story? Who just want to _live?”_  
  
Yoohyeon’s lashes fluttered in surprise. “They’re not supposed to live.”  
  
“Says who? The old hunters?” She thought about the murals in the Temple and the stake that still stood in the woods. Guilt whirled in her stomach. “They’re dead. Why are we still taking advice from people who couldn’t even win?”  
  
“Because they’re killers.”  
  
“So, are we. Humans kill their own all the time but no one has decided that we all need to be eradicated. Some vampires are wicked but some are not.   
  
“One vampire doesn’t erase the wrongs of the others,” said Yoohyeon.   
  
“The wrongs of one doesn’t justify the killing of all.”  
  
Yoohyeon went quiet.   
  
Minji could see the gears turning in her head. She could see the thoughts process on her face, expressions cycling through an array of emotions until they settled with the corners of her mouth tugged downward, and concern creased in her brow.   
  
“You trust her, don’t you?” Fingers touched the scar on the side of Minji’s neck. She twitched as Yoohyeon traced her finger along it. The feeling instantly drew memories that made her skin ripple in goosebumps.   
  
“Yes,” she said in a breath. Even admitting it herself sounded strange. It was all so strange and so different but it felt right. The weight that lifted off her shoulders after admitting it told her it was right.   
  
“Then okay.”  
  
“Okay?”  
  
“I hear you. I know what you’re saying and I want to believe that you’re right—”  
  
“I am right.” Minji reached for the hand on her neck.   
  
Yoohyeon frowned. “Even so, the Headhunters will never listen. Not yet.”  
  
Minji knew that. “You listened.” She squeezed Yoohyeon’s hand. “Right now, that’s enough.”  
  
She gave a smile before it faded away. “I’m scared for you, Minji. I trust you and I know you’re capable of protecting yourself but when I see her with you I…”  
  
“You don’t have to worry.” Minji lifted the hand away from her neck and brought it to her lips, kissing the knuckles. “Bora wouldn’t hurt me. She hasn’t.”  
  
Yoohyeon spread her fingers out, letting them lace together. “Did you two really…”  
  
She flushed. “No.”  
  
“Oh.” Yoohyeon breathed a sigh of relief. “I don’t know if I could handle that right now. Not after you just admitted you’re some hippie vamp activist.” She smirked.   
  
Minji rolled her eyes. “And what if I had?”  
  
Yoohyeon paused in thought. “You’ve always done your best to make the right decisions for us. You’ve put the clan before yourself and me and Yubin. I think…” her brow furrowed as she tried to find the right words. “Whatever makes you happy, whatever you feel is right for you, then I won’t judge. It’s hard to think about but if that’s what you want.”  
  
Minji flushed, skin prickling when she remembered the way her lips had brushed Bora’s. The space there felt a little cooler than the rest of her mouth. “I don’t know about... _that.”_  
  
“I think you do. I saw you two in the weapons cache. It confused me.” Her brow wrinkled. “It’s not something that should be but what you said about change and how we’ve been blind then maybe…” She brought her eyes to Minji’s with a new clarity reflected in them. “Maybe we don’t have a say in what is right or wrong or who gets to live or die. We all want the same thing. To live. No matter what we are.”  
  
Minji smiled and pulled Yoohyeon in, arms stinging around her neck. “Thank you.”  
  
“I’ll love you,” said Yoohyeon, tapping her head affectionately against Minji’s. “No matter what and always.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Headlights cut off as the car rolled to a stop. Everything was quiet. Still. A gate stretched long down the street, sectioning off the abandoned shipping yard from any trespassers topped with serrated wire and hung with warning signs in intervals along the metal fences that were gnarled with vines that had overgrown around them.   
  
Beyond the fencing, laid a wasteland. Piles of junk and metal left to no one to clean up. The structures of buildings and offices sunken in and busted, roofs collapsed and brick crumbled. Containers rusted and weathered with age lined and stacked like ghoulish monuments amongst heavy machinery that sat motionless and untouched.   
  
No one spoke as the engine cut off, thrusting them into an eerie silence. Minji looked away from the window to her side, catching Yubin’s eye who stared back at her from behind the wheel. Something ached in Minji’s chest knowing that this was one of the last few missions they would be on together. Unless…  
  
She didn’t know an unless. Not yet.   
  
On her nod, they climbed out into the chilly night. The trunk popped open to an array of equipment, more than what they were used to but what they needed. Stakedaggers and knives and cartridges and vials all slipped into place, secured on hips, around thighs and backs and under arms in holsters and sheaths and pouches.   
  
Minji pulled back her hair, tying it away from her face. She felt the presence of someone behind her as she did and turned over her shoulder to see Bora.   
  
“Is everything okay?” asked Minji.  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Minji didn’t completely believe her. She looked nervous. Minji wondered what she was thinking. She wondered what memories this place brought back to her. Even if she didn’t know, Minji had a feeling they weren’t pleasant. Nothing she spoke about Sparrow had been pleasant and that fierce sense of needing to keep her close roared up again.   
  
“Here.” Reaching for one of the sheathes in her belt, Minji handed a dagger to Bora. “Just in case.”  
  
“I don’t need that.”  
  
“It would give me peace of mind knowing you have it. Please?”  
  
Bora took it by the quartz hilt and slid it into her boot where the iron couldn’t touch her. “Satisfied?”  
  
“Very.” She offered one of the small handguns out of the trunk and gave a pleased smile when Bora hid it away, too. “Just because you have fangs doesn’t mean you always have to use them.”  
  
“Tearing into flesh is fun.” She licked her lips. “Tasty.”  
  
Minji rolled her eyes, a smile pulling in response to Bora’s gentle one. It helped ease some of her nerves for a moment.   
  
“Here.” Yubin handed them each a small, black backpack that contained the smoke bombs, lighter fluid, and matches they would need. Minji slung her arms through the straps and tightened them so the pack set comfortably and secure on her back.   
  
“Comm check?” said Minji.   
  
“Check,” Yubin and Yoohyeon came back. Minji turned to Bora who nodded to her and she paused, taking a moment to look at each of them.   
  
The crossbow in Yubin’s grip seemed to weigh her down differently tonight. Their eyes didn’t meet and it made Minji’s stomach hurt. She’d known Yubin for so long. Had fought by her side for years. They shared the same high expectations and burdens that belonging to generations of hunters brought and it felt like the bond they had was no longer enough. That she had broken something between them. That they’d strayed too far away from one another.   
  
Her gaze shifted to Yoohyeon. The ends of two silver braids set over her shoulders and Minji was thrust back eight years ago when her family joined their clan. She was sixteen with rounded cheeks and hopeful eyes and a heart of gold. She brought love back into Minji’s life that she had lost. Minji thought back to the moment they shared in the Temple garden and how her love had never wavered for a moment.   
  
Minji’sjaw flexed as she looked away. She knew this wasn’t the end but something in her felt like it was. But when she looked at Bora who stood beside her, she felt like there was something else starting in the wake of it all. Something new and different but scary.   
  
“We do this as quickly and efficiently as we can,” said Minji, keeping her voice low. “Does everyone remember the plan?” She waited for three nods before continuing. “Stay in communication. We know where to reconvene if anything happens. Yubin, you lead us in.”  
  
She nodded and motioned with a gloved hand. Falling in step behind her, they trailed along the gate. It was so dark Minji could hardly see.   
  
Yubin stopped and crouched by a splintered panel of wood. Sinking beside her, Yoohyeon took one side and helped her move it away to reveal a hole cut into the fencing.   
  
Yubin led in first followed by Yoohyeon. Minji let Bora go before she crawled through, one of the sharp points snagging on her jacket leaving a jagged cut in the leather on her back. A hand stretched out to her and she gripped Bora’s forearm who pulled her to her feet and kept going.   
  
The path they took was riddled with obstacles. They had to try hard not to shuffle a piece of metal out of place or kick up any rocks. Debris crunched beneath their soles making their advance slow. By the time they reached the far edge near the ocean, Minji was worn out from having her muscles so wound and having to climb and duck and crawl through various spaces.   
  
Stopping beside a pile of crates, they rested. The smell of the ocean was strong in the air, turning the breeze cooler. Minji shivered in her leathers.   
  
“Just a little further,” said Yubin.   
  
They slithered along, taking the next path from the oceanside toward the center as quickly and silently as they could.   
  
Reaching a rusted stack of beams, they stopped. Beyond them, Minji could see the old office buildings in the distance peeking through the gaps in containers. In the mix were the three that they needed.   
  
“I’m going to post there.” Yubin motioned to a crane that stretched high above the expanse of the yard. It was the best place for her to see. “I’ll be your eyes and get you the rest of the way.”  
  
“Be careful,” said Minji.  
  
Yoohyeon squeezed Yubin’shand before she pulled off, crouched as she crossed a gap in cover and found somewhere else to hide. A few seconds passed before she was on the move again, slipping out of sight and deep into darkness.   
  
“It’s too quiet,” said Bora. Necks swiveled back to her. She had an odd look on her face, brow drawn in. Her nose flared as she sniffed. “This isn’t right.”  
  
“What isn’t?”  
  
“I know they’ve been here. There are too many scents to tell how recent but we should’ve run into someone by now.”  
  
“Bora’s right,” said Yoohyeon. “When me and Yubin were here last, we saw them pretty quickly.”  
  
“What if they knew we were coming and left?” said Minji.   
  
“That would mean they would’ve moved the weapons.”  
  
“I don’t know…” Bora’s eyes narrowed. “I can smell the ammunition. They’re still here.”  
  
“If the coven members are here or not,” said Minji, “the plan is still the same.”  
  
“Hawk eye to base level,” Yubin crackled over the comm. “No sign of bleeders. Forgo the smoke. Head to the containers.”  
  
“Are you sure?”  
  
“Affirmative.”  
  
Minji chewed on her lip before she decided. “Okay. Yoohyeon, take far left. I’ll take center and Bora you take right.”  
  
They moved along the shadows, winding a path to the edges of the central point of the yards. Backs pressed to the side of one of the shipping containers that was dented in on one side and crouched.   
  
“Get ready.”  
  
Backpacks unzipped. Minji took a bottle of lighter fluid in hand and stuffed a box of matches into a pouch in her weapons belt.   
  
“Like old times, huh?” Bora joked.   
  
Minji gave her a quick smile before she began to move.   
  
The space between the three weapon containers and where they were was open, exposing them from all sides. Minji led the way with Yoohyeon and Bora on either of her sides, eyes surveying the area as they jogged along.   
  
Her pulse raged in her ears as they drew closer. The chasm seemed to stretch wide as an ocean though it was only a few paces. They reached the central container in seconds and Minji dropped to the ground where they held still.   
  
“Yubin?” Minji whispered in a pant. Bora looked over at her, glancing down at her chest where her heart was pounding and up to her face. The others might not be able to tell but she was terrified.   
  
“Clear.”  
  
Yoohyeon gave her an unsettled look. She felt it reflected in the churning of her stomach. She knew it, too. That something wasn’t right. But they had gone too far now to turn back.   
  
“Go,” she said to Yoohyeon.   
  
She slinked off into the dark, striding across the gap from the center container to the one on the left. Bora split off next, moving soundlessly to the right. Taking a breath, Minji pushed up and began a path along the side of the container, lighter fluid spilling out onto the ground around it until she reached back to the place she started.   
  
“I’m in position,” she whispered. Taking out a match, she flicked it to light. “Is everyone ready?”   
  
No response.   
  
She waited, watching the flame eat down the length of the match, each second like an hour.   
  
“Yoohyeon?”  
  
That was odd. She should’ve—  
  
Someone screamed.   
  
Something crunched.   
  
“Minji!” Bora’s voice splintered the air.   
  
Minji spun, hair whipping across her face and eyes searching in the darkness until they landed on two pairs of red eyes, mouths covered by black masks. Each held the end of a chain that wrapped around Bora’s neck, yanking her backward, kicking and screaming until darkness swallowed her and she went completely silent at the snap of a crack.   
  
“Bora!”  
  
“Down!” Yoohyeon commanded.   
  
Something knocked into her and Minji went down, skidding across the dirt. She looked up just in time to see the vampire that was headed for her bounce off the side of the container and orient its path back toward them.   
  
Metal gleamed as Yoohyeon held up her gun and took a shot, hitting the creature square in the chest.   
  
“Let’s go!” Yoohyeon got up, releasing the weight that had knocked Minji down and pulled at her arms to get her to her feet.   
  
They ran.  
  
“Where did they come from?” asked Minji.   
  
“I don’t know.”  
  
“Where’s Yubin?”  
  
“She—”  
  
A flash of red halted them, boots kicking up dirt where they slid to a stop. Minji looked for an out but there wasn’t one. Two masked vampires approached on either side, knees bent as they crouched low with fingers curved.   
  
Minji pushed her back against Yoohyeon’s. Hands wrapped around the hilts of her blades and she drew them out, holding them in fingerless gloved hands that she willed not to tremble.   
  
“On me,” said Yoohyeon softly to hide the quake. “Wait.”  
  
Minji held still, counting the steps the vampires took toward them. Seven, six, five, four, three, two—  
  
“Now.”  
  
Minji ducked. Stretching her arms out, Yoohyeon aimed her guns for the two vampires and shot. The one in front of Minji stumbled back on impact and she rushed forward, blades poised.   
  
Clawed hands reached for her and Minji went low, spearing the black tips deep into the vampire’s stomach. Blood sprayed as she sliced them upward and pulled them out, drawing back quick enough for the end of the vampire’s nails to just graze her cheek.   
  
Knife raised, Minji brought it down for the vampire’s chest. They blocked. A foot pressed into her stomach, and Minji stabbed into their calf with her other knife, dragging it through muscle by the momentum of the kick that sent her backward onto the ground where she rolled, flipping back up to her knees.   
  
The vampire wailed as it sank onto one knee, blood spilling dark onto the dirt from the rip in its leg.   
  
Snarling, they came back for her. A shot rang out, snapping the vampire’s head back where the bullet sank between its eyes.   
  
A stakedagger slipped from a sheath in her belt and Minji threw, hitting her mark in the vampire’s chest.   
  
“Ah!”  
  
Minji turned.   
  
Fist swung and Yoohyeon matched each blow, feet moving as she danced along with the vampire she fought. Blood splattered across her face and decorated the ground as her blades met blocking arms.   
  
“To me!” Minji yelled.   
  
A swing at Yoohyeon’s head dropped her into a duck and she pulled both triggers, shooting the vampire in the thighs. They snarled and she surged forward with a shoulder, jamming it into the center of the vampire’s chest to bulldoze him back onto Minji’s waiting blades.   
  
She felt the icy sting of blood ooze onto her hands from where she stabbed up through the back and drew out. The vampire gasped for air into punctured lungs and choked, knees hitting the dirt as they went down.   
  
Minji readied a dagger to plunge when the vampire twisted at the waist. Taking a fist full of hair, they jerked her down into a waiting hand that braced against her chest and threw her back.   
  
Dirt caked under her nails as she dug them into the ground, drawing to a stop where she had skid a few feet away. She looked up, straining through strands of fallen hair, to see Yoohyeon’s legs kicked from beneath her and the vampire lift to their feet once again.   
  
Yoohyeon grunted as she dropped to her back and snapped her arms up just in time to pull the triggers on the vampire that loomed over her. They stammered backward, hands over their face where the bullets lodged in their eyes.   
  
Yoohyeon kicked up, launching herself back onto her feet and attacked. The blade at the end of a barrel stabbed into the vampire’s neck, holding him in place as she shoved her other gun to its chest and shot.   
  
The vampire crumbled. Yoohyeon spat onto the ground leaving a bloody, wet splatter in the dirt.   
  
Finding Minji, she jogged to her, dropping down where she had just pushed up to hands and knees.   
  
“We have to find Yubin,” Yoohyeon hissed.   
  
Hands on Yoohyeon’s shoulders, they stood back up. Weapons clutched into hands they turned only to stop.  
  
They trickled in like smoke, bodies draped in black with eyes like fire. Their movements reminded Minji of spiders the way they stalked low to the ground and swaying, up on the balls of their feet as they fanned in a circle around them.   
  
Yoohyeon pivoted so they were back to back. Minji swore she could feel Yoohyeon’s heart beating through her shoulder blades. Or maybe it was her own heart, raging so wild she could hardly hear the disgusting chorus of hisses and snarls and slurping sounds that surrounded them.   
  
Minji tightened her grip on the hilt of her blades feeling the squish of blood between her fingers. “Ready?”   
  
“Always,” said Yoohyeon.   
  
Minji drew in a breath. She blinked. Eyes opened back up to find a pair staring directly back at her, putrid breath from a fanged mouth licking against her face.  
  
The blood in her veins went cold and she froze. She couldn't move. It didn’t matter. She never would’ve been fast enough to stop the back of the hand that swung for her face.  
  
Her world spun as she was thrown down hard enough for her head to connect with the dirt.   
  
Everything went black.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
“Minji?”  
  
She twitched.   
  
“Minji.” Someone called again, voice a soft, distressed whisper.   
  
Eyes opened to darkness that pressed in on all sides. Her world felt unsteady. Claustrophobic. There was a searing pain against her cheek like the sting left after touching something hot and an ache in her neck. Her mind was sluggish, slowly piecing the last few moments before consciousness was taken from her.  
  
Minji gasped. She pushed herself up, blinking rapidly as she surveyed the black space, willing her eyes to adjust quickly. Other things came to her first. Like the fact that she was moving but not on her own. The sound of ground crunching under tires was distinct along with the few bumps that made her jump. There was the smell of sweat and dirt in the air. A hint of cologne that she knew didn’t belong to them and a hint of gasoline. The air tasted stuffy.  
  
“Hey.”  
  
Her neck snapped to the corner of the large, black box she was confined. She could just make out the face of Yoohyeon staring back at her. Her forehead was glossy with sweat and there was dirt smudged on her cheeks and blood on her lips and chin. She looked worn out and frightened though she tried to hold back the latter. A heavy chain connected a pair of shackles that held secure on her wrists the same as she ones hooked on Minji’s.   
  
On the floor by Yoohyeon’s knees laid Yubin, blood smeared down her face and matted in her brown hair. A flurry of panic filled Minji’s gut until she saw her chest rise and fall against the tight stretch of leather, lips parted slightly as she took in deep, raspy breaths. Curled against her gloved hand was Yoohyeon’s, thumb stroking over the knuckles.   
  
There was no sign of Bora.   
  
Minji glanced around. There was music in the air. Soft but apparent. She turned to her other side and saw the sliver of a glass window that barred off what looked like the interior of a front seat. A van. They were in a cargo van. The silhouettes could just be seen beyond the small plane of glass. One was wearing a baseball cap.  
  
Her mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out. She stopped. There were other things to worry about first.   
  
“Are you okay?” she asked.  
  
Yoohyeon nodded.   
  
Minji tilted her chin to Yubin. “How is she?”  
  
“I think something is broken,” she said. “Every time I try to move her, she cries. I can’t check.”  
  
Minji’s heart sank. “What happened?”  
  
“I don’t know. I think she fell from her post.” Yoohyeon’s bottom lip trembled. She pulled it between her teeth, chewing on it for a moment. “I couldn’t stop them, Minji.” Her eyes were big and watery as they turned back to her. “After they knocked you out, I— I couldn’t—”  
  
“It’s okay.” She pushed on a smile. It hurt to do so. “You did everything you could. We all did.” Her eyes cast back to Yubin, stomach sinking.   
  
Brakes screeched as the van pulled to a stop. The engine died down leaving everything quiet. Footsteps padded around and the lock on the back doors opened. Light streamed in, blinding Minji who watched helplessly as one of the vampires roughly yanked Yoohyeon out of the van by the hair.   
  
She stumbled as she was tossed into the hands of the vampire with the hat who held her by the back of her neck with dirty fingers.   
  
Hands grabbed for Yubin next who screamed when she was pulled across the floor. Her eyes snapped open, pain making them wide. They found Minji as she toppled out and crumbled onto the ground in a pitiful whimper.  
  
“Get up!” The vampire snarled above her.   
  
“Be careful with her!” Minji pleaded.   
  
Yubin’s mouth fell open in a silent scream as she was forced to her feet. She could barely stand up straight, shoulders bent inward and arms crushed up against her chest. She panted in shallow breaths, wincing on each one, body slightly bent over.   
  
Minji wanted nothing more than to reach out for her, take her up into her arms, and carry her off to safety. But she couldn’t. She was ripped from the van last and pushed forward on the command to,   
  
“Move!”   
  
Chains jingled as she walked, her head high as she could hold it.   
  
The structure of an old, dilapidated hotel fanned across the backdrop of night. Like the shipping yard, it was overgrown and gnarled by nature in attempts to reclaim it. Busted out windows had been boarded up while some remained open, glass long gone. A few were lit up by lights that looked odd and misplaced against the worn brick and graffiti that decorated the sides, some faded while others stood out in bright colorful designs of blues and yellows and reds.   
  
Stepping beneath the overhang of an old valet lane, they entered through two, heavy wooden doors. Inside the scene was much different. What should have been ruined was restored. It nearly looked like what it must’ve during its prime. Low light and dark walls. Carpet that had been scrubbed so that it was clean and void of dust and halls that stretched in opposite directions. There was even a fountain in the center of the lobby, the statue in it headless and weathered but beautiful and timeless nonetheless.   
  
On the other side of it, hidden in the shadow of a hall, Minji saw two, jewel red eyes staring back at them from around a corner. They were so young, she noted. Cheeks still rounded and soft. They couldn’t have been more than twelve or thirteen and Minji’s heart squeezed. How could they justify killing children even if they had fangs?  
  
A hard push forced her to speed up and MInji turned her eyes back forward.   
  
Another set of double doors came on them different than the ones out front. They were tall with frosted glass and long, golden handles. They flew open with a push leading them into what must’ve been an old ballroom. The floors were a dark, deep red carpet that paired with the tarnished gold furnishings and the caramel glow of chandeliers that burned low overhead.   
  
In one wall was a long aquarium, glowing with soft blue light. Suspended in the water was the body of a girl, floating amongst the fish that swam around her in a white dress that rippled from her frame the same as strands of dark hair that moved like wisps of smoke around a pallid face with eyes closed to the world.   
  
Minji had to look away.   
  
At the end of the room was sat a vampire in a large, ornamented chair propped on a platform, her arms draped on the armrest and legs crossed. At her sides were two vampires standing sentinel along with one other who sat at her feet, hair idly played with by a hand decorated in numerous jeweled rings. The one at her feet turned her eyes over and Minji’s jaw clenched. Gahyeon.   
  
The seated vampire lifted her free hand, halting them in the middle of the ballroom.   
  
Her chin tilted up, eyes narrowed. She was elegant. Poised in a deep emerald and gold floral suit tailored neatly to perfectly fit her thin frame. With no dress shirt, a trio of golden chains, one weighed with a ruby medallion, hung against her naked collar and dipped into the valley of her chest before large, golden buttons closed everything else up.   
  
Dark brown hair nearly black spilled over her shoulders in waves, framing a face that seemed to belong to a century long ago when monarchs ruled instead of presidents. She was timeless and beautiful, threateningly so in just the way she sat, commanding servitude and respect by just the fierce look in those crimson eyes.   
  
Minji didn’t have to be told who she was. It was Sparrow and she felt as if the entire room trembled just standing in her presence.   
  
“Welcome,” she spoke, her voice soft, feminine, and controlled. Seemingly a whisper. She smiled with lips painted in a touch of color. There was nothing inviting about it. “Finally, the faces that have had my coven in whispers for weeks. Strange”—she tilted her head slightly—"I was expecting you to be a little more...frightening.”  
  
A thud sounded to Minji’s right. She looked over to see Yubin on her knees, clutching at her side. It was then that Minji noticed the blood wasn’t just on her face. There was a rip in her vest, blood glossy over the leather.   
  
“Oh, my,” the vampire spoke, eyeing the fallen hunter. “She doesn’t look so good.”  
  
Minji’s teeth clenched. “So, help her.”  
  
“She’ll be out of her misery soon enough.” Fangs flashed as the vampire grinned. “Bring in the lost lamb.”  
  
The door behind them opened.  
  
Minji held her breath as the sound of footsteps drew closer. She turned her neck, catching Bora’s eye who looked back at her. Her gaze shifted and her eyes narrowed as they found something else. Someone else.   
  
“Siyeon?” Bora blinked, mouth parting in surprise. “Siyeon!”  
  
Ripping out of the guard’s hold, she ran up to the aquarium. Hands smacked against the glass, lights blaring back against her face spotlighted in pain. It was heartbreaking.   
  
“Siyeon? Siyeon, please. Si—“  
  
The guard jerked Bora away from the glass and threw her to the floor in front of Sparrow where she quickly stood back up with a growl.   
  
“Hello, Bora.”  
  
“Handong,” she spat the name out like vomit.   
  
Handong’s lips turned downward. “Have you forgotten your manners?”  
  
A second ticked by. Minji watched as she sank onto her knees and folded over into a bow against the floor.   
  
“Better.”  
  
Bora rose slowly.   
  
“Do you like my new addition?” She motioned to the tank. She’s been great company. Beautiful and quiet.”  
  
“Take her out.”  
  
“No,” said Handong. “You’ve lost your right to ask things of me. You have been _very_ naughty. I thought I raised you better than that.”  
  
“There always comes a time when a child rebels against their parents.”  
  
“You break my heart, Bora. You know I always loved you more than the others.” Gahyeon pouted at her feet. Handong tickled her fingers beneath the smaller girl’s chin, smiling fondly down at her. “Only a little more.” Pleased, Gahyeon nuzzled her cheek into Handong’s palm.   
  
“Too bad I’ve always hated you.”  
  
Handong let out a long, tired breath. “Shame that Gahyeon wasn’t able to extract that tongue of yours. It really does belong in a jar.”  
  
“And you belong in a pile of ash,” Bora snapped back.   
  
Handong laughed, the gentle sound echoing off the walls. It didn’t seem to fit in a place like this. Much too airy and soft for the likes of who it belonged to. “Listen to you. You’ve spent so much time with hunters you’ve started to sound like one.”  
  
Handong stood, heels stabbing into the carpet as she closed the gap between them.   
  
“Oh, my sweet Bora.” Handong took her face in her hands, thumb stroking against the curve of her cheek. Minji didn’t miss the way Bora’s entire body went rigid or how her hands balled into fists at her sides to hide the tremble. “So lost. So desperate to be loved and cared for that you’d seek it in whatever vile thing you can.”  
  
Handong’s eyes cut back to Minji. She drew in a breath at the force of her stare, simmering on the inside as Handong touched her lips to Bora’s forehead in a kiss.   
  
“Was I not enough?” she murmured against Bora’s skin where she drew in a breath. “I can smell her all over you. _In_ you. Tell me”—she slipped down to rest her chin on Bora’s shoulder, mouth brushing against her ear as she spoke—“how does she taste? Or is her blood not the forbidden fruit you wished you got your mouth on?”  
  
Bora jerked away.   
  
“Ashamed, are you?” Handong chuckled. “To think I gave you everything and _that_ is who you chose to serve instead.”  
  
A chill slithered down Minji’s spine.   
  
Bora growled. “I serve no one but myself!”  
  
“Oh, Bora.” Fingers wrapped around Bora’s throat, the jewels in Handong’s rings gleaming in the light of the chandeliers. “It’s my blood that gave you breath of life,” she said in a hiss. “You belong to me and only to me. Do you understand? I created you and I can turn you back to the dust that you belong. Remember your place.”  
  
“I’m sorry,” Bora wheezed.   
  
Eyebrows flicked upward. “What was that?”  
  
“I’m sorry. Please. You are my master.”  
  
Handong let her throat go. Knuckles of the same hand caressed the side of Bora’s face.   
  
“That’s my girl.” Handong smiled. Minji wished she could rip it off. Rip it off and rip Bora away from her. “And because _I_ do love you, I will give you one more chance. Would you like that?” She paused, waiting for Bora to dip her chin in a nod. “As much as I’d love to see you writhe for me, I am merciful. I groomed you to be one of my best and I’d hate to waste all that time and power. I know how much you love your sister. She is a pretty thing. Always an obedient servant.” Handong tilted her head to the side, a strand of Bora’s hair pinched between two fingers that she stroked with her thumb. “You can show me your obedience and your loyalty by doing one thing.”  
  
“What?”  
  
“Kill them.” She motioned with her eyes back to Minji and the others. “You kill the two hunters and your tasty plaything and you are forgiven. Your slate will be wiped clean, your sins forgiven. You have your sister back. Or”—Handong’s eyes burned in her skull, fierce and deadly as her words—"I take the one thing I know you love most in this world.”  
  
“No!”  
  
“There isn’t a yes or no.” The point of a fingernail stabbed beneath Bora’s chin, raising it to look her straight in the face. “There is only them or her. That shouldn’t be too hard for you to decide. After all, wasn’t the only reason you chose to defy me was for her?” Lips curled. “Or is she not the only thing you love anymore?”  
  
Silence stretched.   
  
“Why must you make things difficult for me?” Handong sighed. “Bring her,” she commanded, spinning on her heels and returning to her perch where one of the sentinels stepped away.  
  
Minji followed his path to the aquarium where he reached in. He lifted Siyeon out easily. Like she was nothing but an apple plucked off its branch. She breached the surface with a gasp. Water splattered across the floor, darkening the carpet that she was slung down on without a care.  
  
She landed in a heap, dress sticking to her creamy skin that could be seen through the wet, translucent fabric. Her hair spiderwebbed across her face and cheeks and chin that lifted with eyes that opened to the world, flickering across the room and landing on nothing and no one in particular. They couldn’t. Each round, obsidian orb was clouded white with blindness.   
  
Siyeon pulled her arms around herself, trembling where she sat. Her nose raised to the air, flaring as she took in the scents of the room around her. She was overwhelmed. It was plain to see in the way she wrung her wrists and chewed her lip that dotted in teeth marks where her fangs bit too deeply.   
  
“Siyeon.”  
  
Her neck swiveled in the direction of the call. “B— Bora?” her voice was cracked and rough, speaking to the days and weeks and months of nonuse. She licked her lips that shook before she could speak again. “Is that— Bora, is that—”  
  
Her head jerked backward by the pull of the sentinel, cutting her words off in a choke. She struggled against the ground, floundering as the skin around her neck began to pull tighter and tighter and tighter—  
  
“Stop. Stop!” Bora wailed as the first blooms of bruises began to taint the snowy column of her neck. “I’ll do it!”  
  
Handong held up a hand. The sentinel let go of Siyeon where she dropped forward, coughing and spluttering onto the carpet. Her whines were painful to hear and Minji wished she could make it stop. Make everything stop.   
  
“Do what?” Handong questioned.   
  
“Kill the hunters.”  
  
Bora turned and their eyes met. Minji stared back at her, counting the seconds that passed by like centuries as she approached her. Minji couldn’t read her face. Her eyes were hard and her mouth was a thin line like a smear across a white canvas. Her body was tight and coiled and her jaw was steel.   
  
Minji couldn’t read her because Bora didn’t want her to read her. She didn’t want anyone to be able to look in and see what was behind it all. Though Minji couldn’t read her face she knew Bora’s heart enough to know that she was breaking on the inside.  
  
“It’s okay,” said Minji. “You have what you want back. Take it.”  
  
For a second, Bora’s resolve broke and panic streaked her features before she quickly reigned it back. A hand snapped up to Minji’s throat. She swallowed against the hold, feeling the pressure of Bora’s palm against her.  
  
“Bora,” said Yoohyeon. Her eyes flicked to Minji’s left. “Bora, please, don’t. Don’t do this.”  
  
Minji shook her head. “It’s okay, Hyeonnie. Bora, look at me.” She swung her gaze back. Minji smiled. “You can let me go.”  
  
Bora’s eyes flashed. “No.”  
  
She moved like a streak, hand striking true through the chest of the sentinel that stood behind Siyeon. He gurgled where he stood and collapsed, gaping hole bleeding out onto the floor where his heart landed onto the carpet in a wet slap.  
  
The other sentinel came for her and Bora attacked. He was large, burly, but Bora was quick. She was light on her feet, moving like smoke, evading hands that tried to take hold of her. Nails swiped across his face, cutting through eyes that he clutched with a hand. A heavy blow sent him into the thick of one of the ballroom pillars and Bora charged full force, crushing his ribcage beneath her weight.   
  
“Go,” Handong commanded.   
  
Gahyeon ran.  
  
“Bora!” Minji yelled.  
  
She spun around just in time. Bladed knuckles brandished on hands sunk into either side of Bora’s stomach at the same time she shoved the barrel of a gun beneath Gahyeon’s chin, halting her in place.   
  
Time stopped.   
  
“I call Coven’s Law,” said Bora.   
  
The guards behind Minji whispered something to one another she didn’t catch. Her attention was on Handong’s surprise. Her eyes narrowed from how they widened and lips pursed.   
  
“What do you call?”  
  
“Challenge.” Bora spat in Gahyeon’s face who had yet to retreat. “Duel to the death. For the title of Sparrow.”  
  
Handong’s brow lifted. “You?”  
  
Bora kicked Gahyeon away from her and stretched out her arm, holding the gun so it was aimed directly at her chest. “Unless you’re scared,” she said, looking over to Handong.   
  
“If this is the death sentence you want for yourself,” said Handong, “I accept.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Minji paced, chains gripped tight in her hands to keep them from jingling.   
  
She had put others in cells countless times. She never thought she would be the one locked up.   
  
It wasn’t a proper cell. Not like the ones they had back at the Temple. The basement below floors and floors served as their holding chamber. There were pipes and tanks with their warnings peeling off the side and faded. The roof was made up of wooden beams and the walls were made of large, blocks of bricks.  
  
There was a damp smell in the air and in one corner was a sodden pillow of clothes that looked like they'd been there for months, holes eaten through the fabric by whatever vermin had snuck into the place and dark spots that Minji was certain was blood. She wondered what happened to the owner.   
  
A groan sounded from across the room. She paused to look over to where Yubin was laid on her back, shirt pulled up to show the wicked sight underneath. Yoohyeon hovered over her, hushed voice inquiring about her injuries. Something was broken—a rib Yoohyeon guessed maybe more—and there was a slash in her side just above her hip that had finally stopped bleeding.   
  
Minji wished her pain would stop. She was sweating too much and her skin was pale. She needed proper first aid. The hands of a clan doctor. Food. Water. Minji’s teeth gritted together. None of those seemed near in sight and she cursed herself for not being able to do more.   
  
“Try and sleep,” said Yoohyeon.   
  
Yubin nodded and closed her eyes. She had Minji’s jacket beneath her head and strips of Yoohyeon’s undershirt tied around her torso to help hold her bones in place and cover the gash. It was all they could do.   
  
Minji walked away from them to the opposite side of the room. It was a semi-large space. Looked like it was once used for laundry and housekeeping. She peered up at the small, rectangular window that peeked out at the hotel lawn through iron bars. The moon was only a sliver tonight, it’s light weak.   
  
A hand touched her shoulder and Minji jumped. Yoohyeon offered her a frown in apology. She relaxed. She’d been on edge since she woke up in the back of that van. She didn’t think she'd be able to truly unwind until they were free of this. Or…  
  
“You should rest, too,” said Yoohyeon.   
  
Minji appreciated the concern but she could see how the day had wreaked Yoohyeon. She was fighting hard but the wear was apparent.   
  
“You need it more than me.”  
  
“Minji—“  
  
“That’s an order.”  
  
Yoohyeon rolled her eyes in good humor. She frowned. “That’s not what I…” she took Minji’s hand into hers. “It’s not your fault. What happened today, you didn’t know what would’ve happened.”Minji went rigid. “We all thought it would work.”  
  
“But it didn’t,” she said. “I can accept that.” She drew her hand out of Yoohyeon’s and crossed her arms around her chest. “Maybe it's better that I resign instead.”  
  
“Minji, no!”  
  
She shook her head. “Yubin was right. I have been selfish. I haven't only been thinking about the clan. If I was, if I truly cared, I would’ve contacted the Headhunters. We needed them.”  
  
“We all agreed not to tell them.”  
  
“But we should’ve. I’m the leader, I should’ve known better. Even if that meant Bora would’ve—”  
  
“You don’t mean that,” Yoohyeon cut her off. “You wouldn’t have let them take her. Not without a fight.”  
  
Minji bit her lip. She was right. She wouldn’t have. The same way Bora didn’t let Sparrow have her or then without a fight—a challenge.   
  
“I’m still trying to understand, but what Bora did today...you’re right, Minji. Maybe...maybe things should change.”  
  
She blinked in surprise. “Do you mean that?”  
  
“I think so. This place”—she shuddered, rubbing at her arm with a hand—“it’s not a home, it’s a prison. What Sparrow has done to them and made them think, it’s the same as the clans.”  
  
The way the clans had brainwashed them into thinking and believing they were superior, angels to the demons vampires had been painted to be. And maybe the old hunters didn’t know any better. Maybe things were different for them but that meant things could be different for them now.   
  
Minji pulled Yoohyeon into her. “Thank you, again.” She kissed her cheek just as Yoohyeon yawned. “Go. Rest.”  
  
Nodding, Yoohyeon walked away. Minji watched as she sank beside Yubin and took her hand, holding it as her eyes fluttered shut.   
  
Minji sighed. She sank onto the ground, chains rattling as she leaned against one of the gray, stone columns in the room facing away from the others. Legs pulled up and she rested her chin on her knees.   
  
She wanted to believe Yoohyeon when she said it wasn’t her fault but wasn’t it? She led them, she pushed them. Would they be chained up and held prisoner if she has done things differently? Minji didn’t know. It didn’t matter anyway. This was where they were and there was only one of two ways it could all end.   
  
Keys jingled on the other side of the door. Two bolts knocked back and Minji stood up, stalking over to the door just as it opened. A familiar face peeked through, ruby eyes searching.   
  
“Bora?”  
  
Relief relaxed some of the tension in her shoulders.“I don’t have long.” Slipping in, she shut the door behind her back.   
  
Minji felt the urge to hug her but she held back, examining Bora who looked just as nervous as she was. “Why are you here?”  
  
“Are you okay?”  
  
“I’m fine.”  
  
“And the others?”  
  
“Yubin needs a doctor but she’s strong.” She told the latter half to herself more than anyone. It was one of the few things that kept her from losing it. “Yoohyeon has been tending to her.”  
  
“And you, you’re not hurt?”  
  
Minji shook her head. “I’m okay, Bora.” She pushed on a reassuring smile. “What are you doing down here?”  
  
She glanced across the room where Yoohyeon was curled around Yubin. “I needed to see— I wanted to talk to you.”   
  
Here, even now, Bora managed to give her butterflies. “How’s Siyeon?”  
  
The name twisted anguish into Bora’s face. “They took her again.”  
  
“I’m sorry for what they did to her.” She couldn’t imagine how painful it was for Bora to see her like that. She couldn’t imagine how traumatizing it was for Siyeon. Had they really kept her in that tank for months?   
  
Her eyes were so black. Even behind the white, Minji could tell. She looked so scared, shivering there on the floor shaking in a room full of others she couldn’t see. Minji wondered if Siyeon’s sight was from before she was turned or was it something they did to her as punishment.   
  
“Minji, I—” Bora chewed on her lip, eyes darting from one of Minji’s to the other. “What if I can’t win?”  
  
The ‘what if’ hit Minji in the chest. Bora told her before how she wasn’t able to stand up to Sparrow. Tonight she did but not without consequence.   
  
Minji had only heard about Sparrow through stories. She knew they were someone to be feared but it wasn’t until now that she saw why that was. It wasn’t brute strength and sharp fangs and claws that made Sparrow scary. It was the power that hummed just beneath the surface, the way that with a snap of the finger they could choose to end someone’s life, the way they could take someone as wild and vibrant and charming and fiercely bold and independent as Bora and turn her into a trembling, cowering, pleading mess.   
  
That was more terrifying than any fangs.   
  
Reality settled in like a dense fog, forming a lump in Minji’s throat and twisting knots in her stomach. If Bora didn’t win, they would all be killed.   
  
Part of Minji didn’t want to accept that fact. At least not anymore. She had been conditioned her entire life to believe that dying by the hands of vampires was her destiny. It was a fate that they should all accept and become at peace with. And, deep down, Minji was at peace with it. She would go down like her parents—staring terror in the face.   
  
“As long as you tried,” said Minji but they didn’t taste as honest as she liked them to.   
  
“That’s not fair to you.”  
  
“On my Day of Ascending, when I stood in front of my first vampire, I knew from that moment that there was no going back. I was a hunter. The things that I would be up against could kill me at any moment. I’ve lived my entire life knowing that one day I will die at the hands of the things that I have hunted. That is our fate.”  
  
“It shouldn’t be. It doesn’t have to be.”  
  
“It’s too late for that.” Minji forced on a smile, fingers brushing strands of dark hair away from Bora’s face and hooked them behind her ear. “You told me that whatever you do is for your sister. Protect her. Keep her safe.”  
  
Bora grabbed Minji’s hand before it could pull away. Her fingers were small and thin as they laced between hers. Minji looked at where they were joined. Snowy white against a brush of color. She was cold as ever but Minji found warmth in her touch. “I don’t want to lose you either,” Bora whispered.   
  
Minji’s heart ached. She remembered something Sparrow said. A question.   
  
_“Or is she not the only thing you love anymore?”_  
  
The waves returned, crashing up against the insides of her belly.   
  
“It’s going to be okay,” Minji croaked. She meant it. She wanted to mean it. No matter what happened, in the end, she hoped that everything would go okay. For Bora, for her sister, for Yubin and Yoohyeon, for—  
  
“Minji?”  
  
“Yes?”  
  
Lips pressed to hers, cold and hungry and desperate. They were so soft and sticky from where Bora had licked across. Heat bloomed and something snapped inside of Minji. Something fierce. It ripped through cages and erupted out of the pits she had forced everything down into.   
  
Minji kissed Bora back, hard and unrestrained. Hands cupped around Minji’s face, drawing her closer still and she balled her hands in Bora’s shirt, wanting to sink all of her frigidness into her bones.  
  
She felt the point of fangs but she didn’t draw away. Bora was right. She did like seeing them. She liked that Bora was unapologetically herself and she liked the edge of danger that came with those sharp points that was curbed by the trust and knowing that Bora wouldn’t hurt her.   
  
A puff of air rushed out of Bora’s lungs and Minji drew back, lips parting with an audible sound to see the rough brick of the wall pressed into her shoulders where she had pushed her against.   
  
“If I don’t make it—” Bora panted against her mouth. Her eyes were shining as always but they seemed brighter now. Fully open. Unrestrained. Minji felt the same inside of herself. Like she had made it to the mountain tops and was hurtling down the other side, sprinting into a new world, a new self, a new future or forever.   
  
“Stop.” Minji tightened her fists in Bora’s shirt, dropping all her weight onto her, rooting her in place with the fullness of her body. “Don’t talk like that. What I saw you do in the ballroom today was amazing. You’re stronger than you think.”  
  
Bora whimpered. “But Handong—”  
  
“Won’t stand a chance.” Minji closed her eyes, pressed her forehead to Bora’s, and breathed her in. “She can’t— don’t let her win.”  
  
“I won’t.” Lips barely touched hers in a show of promise. “I have to go.”  
  
Minji forced herself away, letting her hands drop and aching when Bora’s palms left her cheeks. A whisper in the back of her skull said that this was it. She would never see or touch Bora again. Two months ago, she would’ve been fine having her out of her life. She would’ve done it herself. But now...  
  
“Bora.” Minji caught her by the wrist, reeling her back in for another kiss.   
  
Bora drew away slowly, eyes lingering on Minji’s until the door shut.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Rough hands wrenched Minji from sleep. She gasped, frantically trying to catch up as she was forced onto her feet. The face of a nameless vampire stared down at her, tall and lanky. Over his shoulder, she saw Gahyeon grinning at her from the doorframe, spinning a key on a ring around her finger.  
  
The noise had woken Yoohyeon and she sat up over Yubin, the claws of sleep vanishing quickly when she saw what was happening. At her knees, Yubin still didn’t move but she had finally stopped sweating. Minji took it as a good sign.   
  
“Ready for the big show?” Gahyeon giggled at MInji’s sneer. “Leave the others,” she directed. “We’ll need a good meal after this is all done.”  
  
The door shut on Yoohyeon’s hand that was outstretched to her and was forced to walk down a long stretch of hall. It was dim, naked, single bulbs hung in intervals that made it so light spilled off before being brought back into another, yellowish beam. At the end of the hall was an old, vintage elevator. They entered and the vampire spun the lever that pulled the lift to the next floor where they stepped out.   
  
Room doors passed by, some with pale faces that peeked out to watch her pass. Minji kept her eyes forward and her head up. Sunlight stung her eyes as they pushed out of a side door into high afternoon. The expanse of an old courtyard fanned out behind the hotel, overgrown and green despite the rugged ruins of the brick and boards that were holding the hotel together. Statuesque structures were peppered across the grounds and in the center was a rectangular, Olympic-sized pool long since dried up. Minji thought the hotel must’ve been an exquisite and expensive place to stay in its prime.  
  
Standing like statues themselves around the edge of the pool were vampires. They were quiet, faces void of expression other than the few snarls and sneers she received as she was paraded along a long run of sidewalk that took her into the fray of glowing, red eyes. They parted as she approached and stopped at one end of the pool. At the opposite end was Handong.  
  
She stood in burgundy trousers tucked into boots up to her knees and a black dress shirt halfway buttoned with the sleeves rolled up. She looked like a royal prince of the past, hair done in a plait that hung over one shoulder.   
  
On Handong’s left stood Bora in just jeans and a shirt. She gazed across the pool to where Minji was accompanied by Gahyeon who kicked the back of her knees, forcing her down. Minji hissed as her knees bit into concrete and clenched her teeth against Gahyeon’s yelp of a laugh at her pain.   
  
“What a lovely turn out,” said Handong, clapping her hands together. “Now that our esteemed guest has arrived, we can begin.” Stepping forward, Handong addressed the entire crowd. “We gather here today to honor Covens Law. A law made solely by vampires, for vampires, and the only law we obey for it is old and ancient and just. The law called on today is that of a challenge, to the death, to be your new leader. To become the new Sparrow.”  
  
Whispers erupted through the crowd. Minji couldn’t make out everything but she could hear some whisper their doubts while others shared surprise and one or two condemned the idea. At her side, Gahyeon’s lip peeled back in a snarl.   
  
“Kim Bora,” said Handong, turning to her. “State your terms of challenge.”  
  
She lifted her chin, voice booming across the expanse of the pool so that every ear could hear. “The coven will belong to me, the hunters go free, and Siyeon is unharmed.”  
  
“I accept,” said Handong. “My terms are as follows—the hunters die and your sister along with them.”  
  
Bora looked right at Minji as she said, “I accept.”  
  
“To all the witnesses here,” Handing spoke to the crowd, “coven members, new and old, let it be heard. At the moment of my death, I pass my mantle onto Bora. All power and authority will be relinquished to her and all commands she gives must be obeyed. For that is the way of Sparrow.” She turned to Bora, voice lowering to address her. “May the swiftness win.”  
  
Their feet were silent as they landed at the bottom of the pool. Bora crouched, weight held on the balls of her feet as she circled Handong who watched her carefully, one hand folded behind her back while the other spun one of the rings on her finger.  
  
Minji held her breath, heart pounding in anticipation. There was no way to know what the outcome would be. She had seen Bora fight but she had no idea of what Handong held. Her slender, long frame told her nothing and the unknown made her nervous.   
  
“You’re stalling,” said Handong. “I didn’t put you on the front lines because you were weak. Fight me!”  
  
Bora moved fast as an arrow released from a bow. Handong evaded easily, pivoting around just before Bora could touch her.  
  
Rounding, Bora struck again and Handong pivoted as if she was making a simple turn.   
  
On the third rush, Bora anticipated her feint but Handong was ready. She sidestepped and reached, gripping the back of Bora’s shirt and sent her down onto the floor of the pool with a thud that sounded like a boulder falling from a cliff.   
  
A few hisses sounded in the crowd. Gahyeon’s lips curled back into a smile while Minji felt her stomach drop.   
  
Where Bora was fast, Handong was skilled. Minji wondered how old she was. She fought with certainty and accuracy that Bora didn’t have. She was sleek in her movements, striking true where she wanted and allowing a blow if only for it to prompt her own attack.   
  
“I’m disappointed,” Handong taunted.   
  
Bora stood across the pool from her, panting. The hair she had pulled back had loosened and fallen over her shoulders. Handong looked untouched. Poised. She moved in large strides toward Bora, every bit of her coiled like a cobra ready to strike at a moment's notice.   
  
“Give this up before you make more of a fool of yourself. My initial offer still stands.” Handong touched Bora’s cheek. “I don’t want to rip you apart.”  
  
“Too bad.” Bora smacked the hand away. Nails swiped, slashing black lines across Handong’s face.   
  
Catching the offending hand, Handong jerked Bora into her and snapped her other hand around her throat, forcing her fingers in deep. “You really break my heart.”  
  
Gasping, Bora grabbed onto her forearm and jumped, giving her just enough height to slam down onto her knees, jerking Handong with her. A snap echoed through the air and Bora reared up, ramming her shoulder into Handong’s torso hard enough to throw her back.   
  
Lines etched into pool tiles where Handong dug her nails into it, skidding to a stop a few feet away. Her other arm hung by her side, pitiful and broken.   
  
She snarled, loud and chilling. Bodies collided in the center of the pool where Bora met Handong’s advance. A slap snapped Bora’s neck to the side. The momentum whipped her around into a spin and she kicked. Catching her foot, Handong twisted her ankle and Bora yelled, letting her entire weight drop before the bone could be broken.   
  
Handong descended on her fast, forced her knee into Bora’s groin and struck with pointed fingers into her stomach. She sputtered as they pierced through her, instantly spilling blood. The hand drew back, glossy and black. She struck again and Bora threw both fists up, cracking her knuckles into Handong’s collar. She jerked back, winded for a moment and Bora sliced again, cutting her across the throat that sprayed a stream of charcoal across her face.   
  
With a shove, Bora threw Handong away and scrambled to her feet. Handong was up just as quick and she ran, her sprint at full speed and Minji wondered how much she had been holding back before.   
  
Whatever restraints she had were released. She grabbed Bora by her neck and picked Bora up as if she was nothing. Tiles splintered around her where she was tossed onto the ground.   
  
“Down,” Handong hissed.   
  
But Bora didn’t stay down.   
  
She lifted again, jaws wide in a scream as she aimed her fingers to stab. Handong forced her to a stop with a palm splayed across her chest. Air rushed out of her lungs and black colored the inside of Bora’s lips as her sternum crushed inward.   
  
Bora sank. Minji whimpered. She wanted to close her eyes and stop watching but she couldn’t. She couldn’t tear her eyes away and each blow Bora received felt like she was receiving it herself, breaking her further and further.   
  
“I said, down!”  
  
A backhand slap spun Bora on her knees. She landed face-first onto tile and Handong climbed over her.   
  
Taking a fistful of hair, she pulled Bora’s head back and slammed it down, cracking her forehead against the tile. When she looked back up, her nose was dripping and her eyes rolled back for a moment before her senses returned and she tried pushing against the weight that forced her back down.  
  
Handong wouldn’t let her get away. She used her thighs to pin Bora’s arms against her sides and folded over her back with Bora’s chin held in the crook of her elbow. It would be easy for her to snap Bora’s neck. It wouldn’t take much at all. Just a simple jerk to one side and she would be done for, put at the mercy of a killing blow that would yank her heart from her chest.  
  
“It’s over, Bora,” Handong slithered into her ear. “I said, it’s over!”  
  
Teeth bore, a white strip tainted by blood. Red eyes flickered across the pool and drew up, finding Minji at the edge. The sight of her chilled Minji to the core. The whispers around her made her sick and the way Gahyeon looked over her made her realize that this was it. It really was the end.   
  
“That’s right, look at her,” said Handong, forcing Bora to look nowhere else but Minji. “Look at what you’re about to lose. Does it hurt?” Bora jerked in her hold again and Handong choked her until she couldn’t stand it anymore. Her grip loosened and Bora coughed, whimpering through the sting. “I know, I know. Do you see how my heart broke when you were away from me? It would crush me to lose you again.” Lips brushed the shell of Bora’s ear. “So, I won’t.”  
  
Bora’s eyes widened.   
  
“And now you won’t have to choose.”  
  
Minji drew in a breath.   
  
Pain. Fierce, white-hot pain. It festered low in Minji’s belly and she looked down, blinking in shock at the tip of a blade that poked out through her front, crimson blossoming across her shirt as blood seeped into the fabric, pooling larger and larger.   
  
_“Oh.”_  
  
Gahyeon chuckled behind her, violently ripping the knife out. Minji choked. Her knees buckled, the pain too great for her to keep standing and she knelt onto the ground, clutching at the wound that spilled over her hand.   
  
“Minji!” Bora wailed, her voice ragged and shattered.   
  
She breathed in, wincing at the way it pulled at the wound. Tears sprang to her eyes. It hurt too much. She looked up, teeth gritted. The scene before her played out in flashes between the tears and the weight of her lids that demanded they close.   
  
Bora knocked her head backward into Handong’s face.   
  
A crack.   
  
Bodies rolled and Bora slammed Handong’s shoulders onto the ground.   
  
A snarl.   
  
Quartz flashed as Bora pulled something from her boot. The stakedagger.   
  
She sank it hard and deep into Handong’s chest with two hands, the iron disappearing completely.   
  
It was over.   
  
It was over.   
  
“You did it.” Minji smiled.   
  
And then she collapsed.   
  
“Minji!”  
  
Something pushed against her shoulders flipping her over. She forced her eyes to open, finding Bora’s scuffed face staring down at her. Her red eyes were wide. Frantic.   
  
“B—Bora…” she wheezed. Her heart was beating too fast. The tips of her fingers and toes were starting to go cold. She shivered. It felt like there was a hot poker in her stomach. “Bora,” she whimpered, wetness streaming down her face. She couldn’t stop the tears and everything hurt.   
  
“I’m here. I’m here, I’m here, I’m here.”  
  
Minji lifted a bloody hand. She was so weak. Bora caught it before it dropped, fingers threading through, black mixing with red. Lips touched her knuckles where Bora kissed before clutching her hand against her chest.   
  
“I don’t know what to do,” Bora whimpered. “Minji, what do I do?”  
  
Eyes locked and Minji held on the best she could, fighting through the fog of her mind and straining against the black that began to blur the edges of her vision like a vignette.   
  
She could feel herself fading. Feel the cold eat her up, spreading faster and faster through her veins. She tightened her hand in Bora’s, using it as an anchor. Rooting her in place. She didn’t want to leave. She wanted to keep on. She wanted to fight with Bora. She wanted to see Yubin get better and lean her head on her shoulder after a long day, finding comfort in each other’s silence. She wanted to see Yoohyeon’s smiles and her warmth, wanted to be wrapped up in her arms where she knew everything would be alright.   
  
She wanted to kiss Bora’s lips again and again again and never stop.   
  
“Just…” She drew in a shallow breath, willing her gaze to focus through slits. Bora’s face was nothing but a blur but she knew it was her. “Don’t let me go,” she whispered.   
  
“I won’t.” Bora dropped her face into Minji’s neck, touching the softest kiss to the scar that was placed just for her. “I won’t.”  
  
Fangs sank into flesh.  
  
  



	6. Epilogue

Minji woke up as a vampire at the age of twenty-seven.   
  
Red.   
  
It was such a striking color. Deep, cracked by other deeper and darker shades. Crimson. Scarlet. Currant. All circled around the depth of a pupil.   
  
Minji blinked, lashing fluttering over the expanse of color. It didn’t go away. It remained, glaring back at her like a burning sun in the reflection of her long mirror.   
  
Her head tilted, watching the way the light glinted, each angle bringing a different sort of view. A stray beam of light through a sliver in the curtain bounced back at her, making her eyes look like fire. Strange. Her hair was only a few shades darker, spilling over her shoulders. There was evidence of it being brushed though she hadn’t touched it. Hadn’t been able to. She’d just woken up and she was startled by the person who stared back at her in the mirror.   
  
It was her but it didn’t quite look like her.   
  
Minji touched her face with her fingers. There was no more cold or warm. There just was. She smoothed her fingertips across her cheeks, struck by the absence of makeup though her skin was smooth and clear, touched by a mysterious blush and crafted like a masterpiece, fussed over by a sculptor for hours and hours and hours.   
  
Incredible.   
  
“Minji?”  
  
She turned, the movement too quick. Yoohyeon paused in the doorframe, her hair up and her eyes full of shock when she saw her. There was a medical bag hung on her shoulder, all cozy in a simple long sleeve and a skirt that fanned out at the thighs. She looked like she always did. Like nothing changed.   
  
But everything had changed.   
  
“You’re up.”  
  
Minji nodded and turned back to the mirror.   
  
That’s right. She’d been out for days. Two weeks. She figured that out by the strikeouts missing from her wall calendar. The time in between was black. Empty. There were only a few things that she could recall in the void. Like cold. Absolute cold. Cold that she couldn’t escape and yanked her back down into that darkness anytime her consciousness tried to bring her upward.   
  
Her forehead creased. The wrinkles barely marred her skin. There were so many questions. So many blank spaces that she had but there was one thing she wondered above all else.  
  
“Bora?”  
  
“With the coven,” said Yoohyeon. She stepped into the room. “If she’s not there, she’s been watching over you nonstop.”  
  
That must’ve been who had brushed her hair and dressed her if not Yoohyeon. She was in a simple, white long sleeve shirt and a pair of black shorts. For a second she stared at her legs. Scars she wore as medals were all gone. Stripped away. The muscles there had always been defined but they stood out more than before. Everything stood out more than before.   
  
She could hear the hum of the heater, the hushed tones of a TV through the walls from neighbors, the sounds of outside, the soft _thu-dump_ of Yoohyeon’s heart.   
  
Her heart.   
  
Minji’s hand pressed to her chest. Nothing. There was nothing.   
  
“Hey.”  
  
She turned back to Yoohyeon. She was watching her closely.   
  
“Do you mind laying down? I want to check you.”  
  
Minji stalked over to her bed. She hadn’t expected to wake up in it. She expected a hospital bed maybe. Or even an examination table. Or the hard ground of a cell at the Temple locked in chains.   
  
Her legs carried her with the movements of silk. Each step was light. As if she was walking on shells that could easily be broken. The blanket was itchy beneath her—something she never thought of it to be. She rested her head on the pillow and looked up, watching Yoohyeon who shrugged off her medical bag and sat on the edge of the bed, careful where she touched her.   
  
She was so hot. Minji could feel her heat radiating off her like a furnace. The exposed curve of her knee beckoned her to touch but she refrained. She didn’t know where that urge came from. Or the one that wanted to smooth her hand along the thin, rounded run of her leg and feel the avenues of her veins—  
  
“I’m going to look at your stomach,” said Yoohyeon.   
  
Minji nodded. “Okay.”  
  
Her shirt lifted, showing the plane of abs forever sculpted into her muscles in defined lines. Fingers smoothed over the spot just below her ribs slightly to the left. There was nothing there. Not a trace of a scar that the blade should have left. The skin was smooth and blemishless. Same as her back that Yoohyeon examined next.   
  
“How do I look?” asked Minji, rolling back over.  
  
“Perfect.” She sounded astonished.   
  
They knew what the transformation did to the body but seeing it in person—seeing it for yourself—was different from hearing about it. No one in the clan had ever been turned in their lifetime. Those who had in the past were erased from history and only given a line of acknowledgment, a note on how they were forced to do it by the hands of a vampire in the form of torture. Their outcome afterward always ended the same.   
  
Yoohyeon traced a finger over the area the scar should’ve been. Minji grimaced at the memory that sprang to the surface. She could distinctly remember the way it felt when the knife went through her. All the blood and the pain. The panic. The way her life began to fade around the edges. She thought she was going to bleed to death.   
  
Bleed. Blood.   
  
“Why aren’t I hungry?” She was oddly relaxed. She could feel something in the back of her throat. Like an irksome little prodding for something but it was easy to ignore.   
  
“This was a...special case,” said Yoohyeon. She smoothed Minji’s shirt back down and followed her with her eyes as she sat up in the bed. “They let me hook you up to a blood drip. They—we—didn’t want any...accidents.”  
  
Minji swallowed. She knew what Yoohyeon meant. She wondered if she would’ve been able to control herself if it had been Yoohyeon of Yubin she woke up to, knowing that she didn’t want to hurt them but wracked by a fierce hunger.   
  
It was all very strange. Different. Minji felt different. She felt hollow in places she once felt the heaviness and weight of her human parts. She didn’t really feel rooted in reality just yet. Like that feeling after waking up from a long nap unsure if it was still the same day or not, rapidly trying to fill in pieces for the time that was missing.  
  
So much was missing.   
  
“What happened?”  
  
“After they took you from the dungeon?”  
  
Minji nodded. That felt so long ago but she knew it wasn’t. Her body knew it wasn’t. The way Yoohyeon’s face paled made her chest twist.   
  
“I thought you were dead,” said Yoohyeon.   
  
If was a while before they returned after Minji was taken. A nameless vampire came for her and dragged her off to a room a few floors up that was lined out the way any hotel room would be but was much homier. A permanent space of residence instead of a temporary one.   
  
On the bed, she saw Minji, laid out and bloody, Bora hovering over her with red staining her lips and chin. Yoohyeon thought Minji was gone until she saw the punctures in the side of her neck. They were deep with veins sticking out around them, straining up white against her skin.   
  
The fevers set in quickly. Bora begged Yoohyeon to do something. It was then she noticed the slash in Bora’s wrist where she had opened her veins to blood Minji’s transformation. Fresh, red human blood would’ve been better but it would do. Hopefully. Being so close to death, Minji might’ve not made it on that alone. So Yoohyeon offered some of her own, spilling it into Minji’s mouth and fighting back tears.   
  
By that evening, Yoohyeon was sure her body had taken the blood and she slipped into a soundless, motionless, heap. Heartbeat too slow to tell and temperature dropped to what Yoohyeon hoped was due to the thing she was slowly becoming.   
  
“After I made sure you were stable, I took Yubin to a clan doctor,” said Yoohyeon. “I wanted to take you with me but we couldn’t run the risk of letting the clan know what was happening to you yet. We didn’t want to keep you at the hotel but it was better that way.”  
  
“Is Yubin okay?” Minji was less worried about herself and more about her team and everyone else.   
  
“She has a lot of healing to do but she’s fine. She’s been dealing with the Headhunters and the Council.” Her mouth bowed down into the biggest frown, eyes brimming with uncertainty and concern. “It’s a strange situation, Minji. We’ve never had anything like this—like you.”  
  
She bit into her lip and winced when she felt the tip of her fang pierce skin. She licked over the sore spot, taken aback by the taste of blood. It didn’t taste quite the same. Not quite her. “What have they decided?”  
  
“They haven't. We had to tell them everything eventually. They weren’t happy. Yubin’s convinced them to at least hear you and Bora out before moving forward with anything.”  
  
“Yubin?” She couldn’t conceal her surprise.   
  
After their argument and what happened at the shipping yard, she was sure Yubin was completely done with her. That she never wanted anything else to do with her. Not only had she grown feelings for a vampire, but she had also nearly gotten them killed, and now she was one of the things they were supposed to kill.   
  
_“How can you stand to be touched by her? She’s disgusting?_  
  
How could Yubin stand to look at her? Defend her? Help her knowing that blood no longer pulsed through her veins and her teeth were sharp with venom?   
  
“I know you two had your differences, but she loves you.” Yoohyeon touched her leg. The heat of her palm was strikingly apparent. “She’s been fighting hard for you. It took everything to convince the council not to lock Bora and Siyeon up.”  
  
Minji gasped. “Siyeon.”  
  
“She’s okay.” A smile touched her lips. It was the kind of smile she gave when she was fond of something. “She’s with Bora. She only leaves her side when Bora comes to check on you. She’s really cute.”  
  
Minji laughed. It didn’t sound like it normally did. A little more like bells than it used to. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear you say that about a vampire.”  
  
“I never thought you’d be with one. Or...become one.”  
  
Fingertips brushed the back of Minji’s hand that sat in her lap. They were so light compared to Yoohyeon’s coloring. Minji watched as she traced the patterns of her veins, brow pulled in as if she was processing this newness the way Minji was.   
  
“If you hadn’t been changed, the clan would’ve attacked.” Yoohyeon looked up. Her voice was soft. “What you and Bora did has put a pause on everything. Bora’s leadership is flimsy but it has held the coven back. Because she’s holding up a peaceful stance, they’ve allowed her to move freely to keep from inciting an uprising but I don’t know how long that’ll last. The clan is beside themselves and the coven is...restless.”  
  
And many had fled, Yoohyeon told her. Gahyeon hadn't been seen since the end of the fight and others ran away along with her. The ones who stayed remained obedient but it was obvious they didn’t know what to do. Or think. Bora was right. A traitor would be a hard leader to follow but there were signs that others were relieved that Handong’s reign as Sparrow had ended.   
  
The tension that set in the wake of it all was what the clans would rely on for what do next. Would they attack the coven or would the decision be something different? Something they had never seen or known of happening in the centuries that had transpired.   
  
Minji’s stomach was unsettled. She felt as if the decision rested on what she told them. It was like she had become the bridge—a hunter and a vampire—and it would be her move that would either burn it down or fortify it.   
  
“And Sparrow?” asked Minji, her throat tight with worry.   
  
“She’s been desiccated and locked in the lower chambers of the High Court. Yubin believes they’re holding off on the burning to be able to question her once they’ve figured out the current situation.”  
  
Minji’s jaw tightened. It wasn’t death but it was better than nothing. Sparrow wouldn't be a threat anymore. The High Court was a place like the Temple. It was an old, forgotten courthouse that served as the main point of council and trial for the clan and a meeting ground between other clans when merging or aid was discussed and settled on.   
  
Like the Temple had cells, the High Court had deep chambers beneath the grounds. They could hold the vilest and dangerous of vampires. It was rumored that others had been desiccated there but Minji didn’t know. Those were council secrets that not even Headhunters knew the truth to.   
  
“I’m scared, Minji.”  
  
“Me, too.”  
  
Yoohyeon shook her head. It reminded Minji of a younger Yoohyeon with pigtails and boundless, infectious energy that didn’t once let the fact she and her family were new to their clan keep her from showing and sharing love.   
  
“What if they…” Yoohyeon’s eyes watered. “They can’t take you. It wouldn’t be fair. Everything you’ve done has been to protect us. All of us! Shouldn’t that count for something?”  
  
“I hope so.” Minji swallowed past the lump of fear in her throat. “Come here.”  
  
Yoohyeon leaned into her. Minji was careful, minding her movements and the tightness of her hold as she strung her arms around Yoohyeon’s waist. Her scent rushed into Minj’s nose, overtaking her senses like they never had before. She could smell everything. The salt in her tears that she blinked back, the hint of sweat from the warmth created in her sweater, the vanilla and spice fragrance of her skin and—  
  
Minji took in a shudder of a breath. She could smell it. Hot. Metallic. Thick. Yoohyeon’s blood was rich and inviting. Warm against her cheek where Minji’s face was pressed to the side of her neck. Her stomach lurched and she felt a stinging pain in her gums as her fangs forcibly lengthened.   
  
She pulled back abruptly, the action taking her to the opposite side of the bed creating a gap between them.   
  
Yoohyeon looked at her curiously before she realized. “I’m sorry!”  
  
“It’s not your fault,” her words were a little muffled from her fangs. They felt awkward in her mouth. Big and obstructing.   
  
Minji touched them with her fingers, feeling the hardness and the sharpness. A tongue grazed one and she tasted the venom. It was sweet. Like nectar.   
  
“I stored a few blood bags in your refrigerator,” Yoohyeon told her. “They’re left over from the drip if you need them.”  
  
Minji flicked her eyes back to her. Yoohyeon was calm but Minji could tell she was tense. Her muscles were coiled like she was ready to spring. Whether it was the natural reflex from years of training to combat the very being Minji was or if she was truly scared of her, she didn’t know.   
  
“I think I’m okay.”  
  
“Are you sure?”  
  
“I was surprised. That’s all.” She crawled back across the bed to Yoohyeon, hand held out palm up. “See?”  
  
Yoohyeon placed her hand in hers. Minji’s eyes widened. She was so much paler now. Not in a sickening way but an underlying absence of color where blood would normally flow. Her veins were dark with a new type of blood that gave her skin a strange, unnatural appearance that was deflected by the immaculate carving and sharpening and refining that the transformation created.   
  
Bringing Yoohyeon’s hand to her mouth, she kissed her fingers, red eyes reflected back at her in brown. Her scent engulfed her again but Minji was ready this time. She allowed herself to take it in, let her body and mind come into agreement of who the smell belonged to. That they were not enemy nor prey. They were Yoohyeon. Her friend. Her teammate. Her family.   
  
“There,” Minji said as she exhaled.   
  
“I guess your self-control translated over.”  
  
“Maybe.” She laughed a little and thought about what Bora said on how she could be so controlled around Minji. Training. Lots of training.   
  
Minji’s entire life has been nothing but training. She would do thousands of hours more in this new life if she had to.   
  
“I’m glad you’re alive.” Yoohyeon’s tone was somber. “I know it’s blasphemous for a hunter to become a vampire and that we are told to choose death before fangs but…” Yoohyeon clutched harder. “I don’t think I would’ve ever forgiven you for choosing that.”  
  
Minji smiled. She wanted to tell Yoohyeon that it was one of the most selfish decisions she ever made. She didn’t do it for them, she did it for her. To be able to have this. Have more days. She wanted to see change, if ever, come. She wanted to apologize to Yubin and hug her again. She wanted to hold Bora more, kiss her more. She wanted all the good things. Even if that meant becoming the thing she knew the people she had been surrounded by her entire life would hate her or hunt her down.   
  
“I should let Yubin know you’re up.”  
  
“Is that okay?”  
  
“She’s been asking me every day.” Yoohyeon smiled and stood up, slipping her phone from her pocket. “I’ll be right back.”  
  
She stepped out of the room. A few moments passed and the front door opened. Minji heard voices and this time she heard them perfectly and clearly. She picked out Yoohyeon first before she heard one not so familiar but she had heard it before. The last was Bora’s. Minji’s body instantly reacted to the sound of it. She had no heart that would beat but she felt a flutter in her chest anyway.   
  
And when Bora walked through the bedroom door, eyes widening when they fell on her and mouth pulling into an open mouth grin, Minji’s entire body ignited.   
  
“Minji!”  
  
Her arms opened just in time to catch her. Minji fell back against the bed, arms locked so tight around the small frame on her she thought she might break her. But she wouldn’t. They were the same now. Same strength. Same power.   
  
Minji breathed and Bora overwhelmed her. The honey and cream had never smelt so sweet. But there was more. A deep, hidden fragrance that belonged only to Bora. To her makeup. To what she was. It was that very thing Minji tasted in her blood beneath her own flavor. Bora was part of her always forever, deep as her bones.   
  
“You’re awake.”  
  
“I’m here.” Minji chuckled.   
  
“You’re awake.” She kissed Minji’s neck. “You’re awake, you’re awake, you’re awake,” she chanted, landing a kiss after each one, on her cheek, her temple, her forehead, her—“you’re awake”—lips.  
  
Minji pressed upward into the embrace. Her eyes closed and she surrendered her all into the mouth that took claim of hers, clawing at her back like she’d be able to mold Bora into herself.   
  
“Relax,” Bora chuckled, panting against her lips. “I’m not going anywhere.” She reached back and took Minji’s arms, sliding her hands up to wrists to hands that she held and set back on Minji’s waist.   
  
She was smiling so brightly. Minji had never seen her smile like that before. It was captivating. And she was breathtaking. She knew Bora was beautiful but new eyes were able to see every intricate detail. She was something to be worshiped. Her blazing garnet eyes, her pink lips, her long, oil black hair falling down her shoulders. She was radiating with something new and different and it made Minji giddy.   
  
“You’re staring, princess.”  
  
Minji grinned. “Wouldn’t I be a queen with you now that you’ve taken the throne?”  
  
“Kim Minji, Queen of Vampires, Princess of Hunters.” Bora pulled at her hands so she sat up. Minji wrapped her arms around Bora’s waist to hold her in place “What a crazy title.”  
  
Minji tapped her nose to Bora’s. “Crazier things have happened.”  
  
Bora kissed her.   
  
“There’s someone I want you to meet. Officially.” Climbing off her lap, Bora sat in the space beside her, hand still held between them. “Siyeon?”  
  
Footsteps padded followed by a face that peeked around the corner.   
  
“Come in, it’s okay.”  
  
She stepped slowly, head angled down. She was in a warm, wool sweater and jeans, black hair brushing just past her shoulders so dark it was nearly blue. She was taller than Bora but just as small. Her face was young, telling of the age she was turned and her eyes were lovely red beneath the cloudiness.   
  
Minji’s heart instantly squeezed for the girl. She remembered the first time she laid eyes on her in that aquarium. So vulnerable and broken. She wondered what sort of nightmares she had witnessed for her eyes spoke of them in whispers and her shoulders didn’t seem quite lifted of the weight.   
  
She was a haunted, little one. Minji was even more proud that they had been able to save her.   
  
“I’m right here.”  
  
Siyeon drifted toward the sound of Bora’s voice, her hand held out. Bora caught it when she was close enough.   
  
“You remember Minji? The one I told you about? The one who helped save you?”  
  
She nodded. “Yeah.” Her nose twitched as she took in a breath. “She smells different.”  
  
“Doesn’t she? I kind of like it.” Bora bumped her shoulder to Minji’s who would blush if she still could. “Do you want to say hi?”  
  
She nodded and her eyes turned in Minji’s direction though not landing directly. “Hi, I’m Siyeon.”  
  
Minji’s face burst in a smile. She already felt her heart open up to slot Siyeon into it. “Hello, Siyeon. It’s nice to finally meet you.”  
  
Her head ducked, muttering shyly. “Thank you for helping me.”  
  
“I would do it again and again if I had to.” And she meant it.   
  
“Here.” Bora took Minji and Siyeon’s hands and brought them together. “So you know the touch you can trust.”  
  
Siyeon stroked her thumb on Minji’s knuckles and felt her palm with her fingertips as if mapping out the prints. Another hand extended, hovering in the air in front of her face and Minji leaned in so Siyeon could touch her, feeling all the details she could.   
  
“Minji.”  
  
“That’s me.”  
  
Siyeon smiled.   
  
And, right then, Minji realized that she had never been happier than in that moment.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Night settled on another day come and gone. Minji leaned against the doorframe of the bedroom, eyes on Bora who had Siyeon cradled in her lap on the chair. It was the only way she would fall asleep, Bora told her.   
  
When Siyeon was first brought into the home Bora was at, she would sleep in the bunk with her until Siyeon could do without. Even then, sometimes Bora would dangle her hand over the side of her bunk above for Siyeon to hold until she fell asleep and it dropped away. It was heartbreakingly sweet. After what Siyeon had to go through in Bora’s absence, it was no wonder she didn’t want to be apart from her again.   
  
Rising, Bora carried Siyeon over to the couch and laid her down. A blanket draped over her, up to her chin, and she padded off toward the bedroom.   
  
“She’s asleep.”   
  
“How is she doing?” Minji closed the door once Bora entered.   
  
The bed dipped where Bora dropped into the center of it. She looked worn out and her eyes were starting to lose some of their vibrance. Since the challenge, she’d been splitting her time with Minji and dealing with the coven. It was hard work. Work she had never had to do before.   
  
“Better by the day but she still won’t talk about what happened in the months I was gone.”  
  
Siyeon didn’t talk very much to begin with, Minji found. At least not to those she wasn’t comfortable with yet. It would take some time for her to completely warm up to Minji but she didn’t mind. Siyeon was learning new people and Minji was learning a new self. It was a challenge for both of them.   
  
“In time.” Minji sank onto the edge of the bed and combed a hand through black tresses.   
  
Bora closed her eyes and Minji thought about what she had told her about Siyeon’s past. She lost her sight as a child. The doctors knew it would happen when she was born, and though they didn’t know for sure, Bora believed that was how Siyeon landed im care.   
  
She was a shy thing. Always had been. Slow to trust others. She shared her deepest darkest secrets with Bora who kept them locked up because she respected Siyeon’s privacy but she did share with Minji that she didn’t have a good time in the homes before she met Bora.   
  
She was only seventeen on the cusp of eighteen when the fire happened.   
  
“Sometimes I regret begging Handong to save her,” Bora muttered.   
  
That’s what Gahyeon meant by Bora asking for help. They were going to change the surviving children anyway but Bora pleaded. She was unsure and scared about the ghoulish creatures with fangs and red eyes but if they could help, she’d trade anything to have Siyeon be okay and to be able to always be with her.   
  
“You didn’t know.”  
  
Bora’s eyes opened back up. They were so tired. “There are others like her in the coven,” she said. “There’s so much that I want to do. Give them real homes, teach them the world instead of fighting, help the older ones find real jobs.”  
  
“That’s amazing.” It really was. She knew Bora’s heart was gentle but in the wake of it all, she was learning by just how much. Watching her with Siyeon was one thing but hearing her speak about what she wanted in a coven was another.   
  
Bora blinked away from her and sat up, legs crossing over the comforter. “I don't know how to do that. I don’t know where to start.”  
  
“You’ll figure it out.” Minji held her face. “You have eternity to.”  
  
“Is that a crack at my age?”   
  
“It’s my age, too, now.”  
  
Bora smiled before it faded away. Darkness eclipsed her expression and she got up, walking over to the window where the curtain was open just barely.   
  
“It’s…” she stared out the glass, nails drumming against the windowsill. “It doesn’t feel real. Handong gone, the coven turned over, hunters not immediately attacking us. Most of us haven’t known anything else for decades. We don’t know what to do.”  
  
Without hiding and fighting and plotting and planning. Without being controlled by someone who used them more as tools and pawns and scraps to be tossed aside when they were of no more use.   
  
The state of the coven was one of confusion, Bora explained. They didn’t know whether to fight or flee. Unlike the clans who had a council that made decisions, there had been one who ruled the coven. All that responsibility had now fallen on Bora’s shoulders and Minji could sense the fear off of her. She could pick up her uncertainties. Could tell she was cloaking most of it from her.   
  
It was scary. From all sides, it was scary and unpredictable.   
  
“I can help,” said Minji. She stepped over to her. “I know they probably won’t want to listen to someone like me, but I could help you.”  
  
Bora lifted her chin to her. There was appreciation before it was taken over by sadness. A hand lifted and fingers touched the side of Minji’s neck over the puncture marks left by her teeth. They were the only scars that would never fully fade. They would remain, a white glossy shine like a white ink tattoo. Bora had her own mark. Minji had never paid much attention but it was on her forearm beneath the ink of the feather that was there.   
  
“I’m sorry if this isn’t what you wanted.”  
  
Minji stilled.   
  
The day she woke up and saw crimson reflected back at her instead of brown, she had questioned if this was better than dying. Though she knew she would rather keep on going, there was still the part of her that told her she shouldn’t have wanted that lingering.   
  
It was an odd and perplexing feeling. A difficult sort of turmoil that churned over in her head when she was alone and she was left to examine all the new parts about her. She wasn’t used to it. She wasn’t supposed to be _this_ but she was and her entire life would be changed forever.   
  
Eyes drifted across the room, passed Bora to her dresser where the wooden box she was given at eleven sat. Inside was her first stakedagger and along with it was the ring, replaced in the cushion of velvet, forbidden to be placed in her finger ever again.   
  
Everything she was and who she had been was erased leaving a new and unique creation.   
  
“I told you not to let me go.” She removed Bora’s hand to hold it. “Or did you not want to go on that date to make up for the one that was ruined?”  
  
Bora lifted to kiss her, letting it linger in place of words she wasn’t sure how to form or speak.   
  
“It’s different,” said Minji, pulling back. “Kissing you like this.”  
  
“Better?” Eyebrows waggled and Minji wondered how she could be intimate and silly at the same time.   
  
“Overwhelming.”  
  
“All your senses are fully open now.” Bora pressed her lips to Minji’s throat. The sensation sent ripples down her spine. “You’ve denied yourself what you’ve wanted for so long but you can’t anymore.”  
  
Minji shivered. She didn’t think she would still be able to do that. Bora was right. She had done everything for everyone. Had followed the rules, walked a straight path, kept herself in check. When Bora entered her life, she began to diverge. She began to open up in ways she hadn’t known and now she felt like she was fully cracked open.  
  
Her senses spiked again as Bora placed soft kisses along her neck, pulled down the collar of her shirt just enough to nip at the protruding bone there. A rumble began in her chest and lifted to her throat in a sound she didn’t think could come from her.   
  
“Did you just growl for me?”  
  
Minji pulled back but Bora met her movements. She was smiling at her with unabashed affection. Wow. Just a few months ago she hated the sight of that smile.   
  
“It’s okay,” Bora purred. “It’s natural. You’re hungry, aren’t you?”  
  
She swallowed, testing the sting in her throat. She was grateful for Yoohyeon. The blood packets had saved her and she made sure to eat often as suggested by Bora who knew what it felt like to be a newly turned vampire. She had eaten just that morning so—  
  
“No.” She wasn’t.   
  
Bora chuckled and the vibration was like electricity through Minji. “Not for that.”  
  
Oh.   
  
“Now you know how I felt every time I was close to you.”  
  
Hands sliding beneath her shirt, fingers spread across her stomach. Minji gasped. She didn’t know how Bora could stand it. Everything was heightened. Sharpened. She could almost feel every single line of her fingerprints and every detail in the creases of her lips as she continued to play at her neck.   
  
“Bora…”  
  
Fingers curved and nails drug lightly down from her ribs to her stomach, sparking something heated in her like the strike of a match.   
  
“I want—“  
  
“I know.”  
  
A hand hooked into the waistband of her shorts and tugged. Walking backward, Bora led them to the bed where she sat down. She peered through her lashes as she drew off her shirt and sat it aside, arms held out. Minji climbed over her lap, balancing easily over her thighs as Bora peeled her shirt away leaving Minji bare.   
  
Red eyes flashed and Bora sank her face into the valley of her chest, kissing up along her sternum. Each press was warm, something Minji wasn’t used to but they were the same temperature now.  
  
“Just breathe.”  
  
She realized she hadn’t been. Even if she didn’t need to, she took in a breath and let it out. It helped. Helped keep her as controlled as she could be as Bora bit into her collar and sucked. Her hands were on the move again, circling to her back where nails caressed across her shoulders and down her spine sending waves and waves of unknown pleasure through her.   
  
She couldn’t take it.   
  
She pushed Bora down and kissed her hard, fangs clinking. The taste of blood entered her mouth and she jerked back.   
  
“Sorry—“  
  
“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Bora licked over the spot Minji’s fang had cut and drew her back in.   
  
Hands pushed at her shorts and Minji let them slink away, losing them to the floor. Those same hands soared up along her sides, tickling in their path along her arms, to her back, and strung through her hair.   
  
Powerful legs wrapped around her waist, crushing her down into the run of Bora’s body that she felt as if was going to meld into her own.   
  
Mouth leaving Bora’s, Minji traced her lips across her jaw and fell into her neck where she swiped her tongue, tasting her skin. She was as creamy as her scent and Minji sucked against the side of her throat, part of her wishing the blooms of deep, dark blue that formed there would stay longer than the few seconds after she put them there.   
  
“Mmm— Min _ji—"_ Bora growled her name, a sound Minji had never heard from her. It raised the degree into molten and she squealed as Bora turned them over effortlessly, tossing her hair over one shoulder as she lowered to kiss across Minji’s stomach. Each one left little flames on her skin and she arched up, wanting to feel that burn even deeper.   
  
She felt thunder in her chest and didn’t hold back. She let her body work out these new sensations and instincts, sounding off as Bora explored her with a curious mouth, kissing in some places while nibbling and sucking in others.   
  
She was at Minji’s chest, taking her in in a way that made Minji sigh her name when she felt the rub of a hand travel past her navel and palm at the inside of her thigh.   
  
Minji gasped, eyes widening when knuckles brushed over the space between, barely touching her.   
  
“Is this okay?” Bora purred while placing a kiss on her cheek.   
  
She twitched when her knuckles gave another pass and fingers stretched out, a single one stroking down along the most intimate part of her.   
  
“Yes,” she sighed without question.   
  
Bora smiled and kissed her cheek again. “Breathe,” she muttered.   
  
Minji closed her eyes, took in a breath, and let Bora take her away.   
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Laundry folded neatly, Minji worked to put everything away, slotting clothes into her dresser and storing spare sheets and blankets on the top shelf of her closet. It felt like such a mundane task. Something a little too simple to fit into her life now. Normal compared to what had happened in the past few months.  
  
But maybe that’s what she needed. _Normal. T_ hough that normal would be a new sort of normal and wouldn’t truly settle until after meeting with the council. Yoohyeon told her to relax until then. Told her to rest though Minji wasn’t sure how a vampire was supposed to rest.   
  
She had more energy and stamina in her than she ever had. There was a constant restlessness in her to just go out and run, see how fast she could go, and eat up the night and maybe a few sips of blood along with it.  
  
Ugh. Blood. She licked her lips as she folded the last sheet and put it away. She had a lot to learn from. This wasn’t a hunger or need or desire she was used to in all aspects of her being. She had gone from seeing the world in front of her to the entire solar system now that her senses had been expanded.   
  
And that was only part of her worries for what was to come next.   
  
“Stop moving!” Bora’s voice boomed.   
  
Siyeon whined. “I don’t trust you.”  
  
“You’re the one who asked.”  
  
“I take it back.”  
  
“What’s going on?” Minji walked into the living room where Bora had a pair of scissors in her hand. On the floor in front of her was Siyeon, holding Bora’s wrist as if she was about to wield the scissors as a weapon and attack her with them.   
  
Siyeon’s lips parted in surprise when she heard her and she looked away, sinking back onto the floor, legs crossed and hands in her lap.   
  
“Hair cut,” said Bora, lightly flicking Siyeon on the side of the head. She earned a hiss in return that reminded Minji of a kitten trying to pick a fight with a lion. “But someone won’t sit still.”  
  
Siyeon stuck out her tongue.   
  
“Do you want me to do it?” asked Minji.   
  
Siyeon ducked her head. “Okay.”  
  
Minji sat on the couch and parted her knees for Siyeon to lean back into.   
  
Picking up a comb, she ran the teeth through. Her hair was soft like corn silk but thick. Minji smoothed her fingers through it. Siyeon seemed to like that and she did it a few more times, scratching gently at her scalp. With each stroke, she felt Siyeon relax against her and she smiled.   
  
“I cut Yoohyeon’s fringe all the time,” said Minji as she began to use the comb again. “How short do you want it?”  
  
“Here.” Siyeon held her hand to her chin.   
  
“That’s too short, Singnie.”  
  
“No, it’s not!”  
  
“How about here?” Minji lowered Siyeon’s hand about another inch or so. Siyeon nodded in approval and Bora shrugged at her side though she was smiling.   
  
Minji leaned over and kissed her lips. It was meant to be only a peck but Bora countered when she tried to lean back and a tongue slipped deep into her mouth. Her body simmered remembering a few nights ago when Bora had her for the first time. It was the first time Minji had fully been with anybody. She was glad it was with Bora who was equal parts gentle and intense, still passionately human and wildly a vampire.   
  
“I know what you two are doing,” Siyeon groaned.   
  
Minji broke away, failing to keep the breathlessness out of her voice. “Sorry.”  
  
“I’m not.” Bora’s eyes seemed to flash brighter as she stared into Minji’s. She looked like she’d devour her whole if she could. A hand slapped back to hit her on the thigh. “Ow!”  
  
“Don’t distract her.”  
  
Bora mumbled under her breath but minded Siyeon’s request.   
  
Taking up the scissors, Minji began to cut. Strips of black hair fell away, sticking to the towel she had around her neck and fluttering to the floor. She cut and trimmed neatly, minding the ends to make sure they were even and the length wasn’t too short.   
  
“How does it look?” asked Siyeon.   
  
“It looks good.” Bora snuggled further into Minji's side where her head rested on her shoulder as she watched. “It looks really good. Minji’s doing a great job.”  
  
Minji bit her lip in a smile and continued to cut, adding the last few touches. It was all very intimate and warm. Siyeon’s hair in hands and Bora pressed to her side, knees pulled up so she was curled up in a ball. Minji didn’t know the last time her home felt like... _this._   
  
Her parents were so loving and when they were gone, Minji felt a cold she’d never known. With Yubin, warmth was rekindled and Yoohyeon brought an extra log onto the flames but there had always been more that Minji wanted.   
  
She felt her heart squeeze. She didn’t think she’d find those missing parts in a vampire. In two of them. Watching them laugh and joke together was beautiful. The way Bora took care of Siyeon, making sure she was comfortable and safe and cared for almost made Minji want to cry.   
  
How could anyone see someone like Bora and Siyeon and think that they were monsters? She hoped the council would see what Minji saw. She hoped the clans could break their prejudice and learn beyond the things they’d been taught.   
  
“How’s that?” asked Minji, leaning back to examine her work.   
  
Siyeon touched her hair, testing the length with fingers that saw more than eyes ever could. She let them run through the now short locks and ruffled it a few times.   
  
“I like it.” She turned around, going shy once she was facing Minji. “Thank you.”  
  
Bora reached over and tugged one of the strands. “Go wash up. You’re shedding everywhere.”  
  
Siyeon smashed her hand into Bora’s face who retaliated with a foot to her rear before she could get far enough away. Siyeon whined through her laughter and hurried off, bathroom door closing behind her.   
  
“She likes you,” said Bora, lifting off her shoulder so Minji could get up to clean up the mess. “I was worried. It probably helps that you smell like me.”  
  
“I do?”  
  
Bora hummed a response. “My blood made you. Some of that is locked in your tissue.” She made an odd face. “And Yoohyeon.”  
  
“Jealous?”  
  
“I...don't mind Yoohyeon,” Bora grumbled. Minji laughed and swept up wisps of black that littered the hardwood with a broom into a dustpan she fetched from the closet. “But my blood isn’t the only reason.”  
  
Minji gasped as she was pulled down. She bounced against the couch where she landed, taken over quickly by legs that hooked around her waist and arms around her neck. The broom laid on the ground, forgotten where it dropped.   
  
“Remember?”  
  
How could she forget?  
  
That rumble began in her chest again and Bora grinned at the sound, kissing her hard to quiet the storm that began to swarm in her. The scrape of fangs no longer alarmed her and Minji allowed herself to let instincts rule for the moment.   
  
She put Bora onto the cushions in a blink, sprawled along the length with hair fanned around her head and shirt slightly pushed up to show the snowy run of taut skin. Minji wanted to bite. That was new. Her gums tingled as her fangs lengthened.   
  
“You’re so beautiful,” Bora muttered.   
  
It threw Minji for a second and she looked up into garnets. Fingers brushed over her lips, pushing lightly to expose her fangs. She didn’t know how she felt about them. She didn’t know how she felt about what she was now quite yet but Bora made her feel at peace with it for the moment, whisking away her doubts and the sudden spells of revulsion she got when she stared at herself in the mirror too long.   
  
It would take some time getting used to but with Bora and Siyeon she thought maybe it wouldn’t take so long.   
  
“For a vampire,” Bora tacked on.   
  
Minji laughed, memories of a club and a dance and hidden meanings beneath words coming back to her. “I’m irresistible.”  
  
She lowered, capturing Bora in a kiss just as her phone rang. She would’ve ignored it but a date from the council was still pending and she didn’t want to miss the news when it came. Slinking away from the couch, Minji stalked over to pick it off the dining table and answered.   
  
“Come downstairs,” said Yubin.   
  
She hung up and sat her phone aside. Bora was giving her a look. She and Yubin never got along and Minji doubted they ever would.   
  
“I’ll be back.”  
  
Bora gave a stiff nod and got up to finish cleaning as Minji left.   
  
She found Yubin on the sidewalk, heavy coat weighing her down. It was snowing. Minji forgot to grab a proper jacket.   
  
“You look out of place.”  
  
“I am.”   
  
Yubin’s eyebrows lifted. Her hair was combed over to one side, shielding where they had shaved down to put in the stitches that had recently been taken out. A gnarled scar was left that started above her eyebrow and stretched to where a fuzzy, patch of black hair had grown in.   
  
They were lucky it hadn’t been worse. Yubin did fall and her broken ribs would take much longer to heal though it didn’t seem to stop her from coming by like tonight. She looked a little winded, Minji could tell. She didn’t stand at her full height and her breathing was slow and careful.   
  
“Let’s walk,” said Yubin.  
  
They fell into step, side by side, pace steady. The sidewalks were fairly empty, the chill keeping more inside than out despite the snow. Street lamps began to flicker on as the evening descended into night. Minji buried her hands in the pouch pocket of her hoodie, eyes on the pavement damp with melted snow.   
  
“The council wants to meet Friday,” said Yubin, breaking the silence, the warm air of a convenience store rushed out as they passed by followed by the smell of cigarette smoke from a shadowed figure in an alleyway. Friday was in three days. “They only care to listen to you and hear Bora but I think you should bring Siyeon. It’s evidence to back up your claims. Sympathy still goes a long way even if the council seem emotionless. Be presentable.”  
  
The High Council wasn’t dealt with often. Most issues could be sorted out by the Headhunters with seldom involvement from the clan leaders who regulated what hunters did in the different sects. The High Council was the very top who oversaw various clans in a region.   
  
They were older, of high status, and deeply respected. What they said was law and no one could dispute them once their judgment was passed. Minji thought Yubin would suit the role.   
  
“Will you be there?” asked Minji. They had reached a busier area now and the sounds of the city kept their conversation trapped only between them.   
  
“Yes. Yoohyeon won’t. They view her as emotionally compromised. She could be temporarily suspended.”  
  
“But—“  
  
“If things don’t pan in our favor, I mean.”  
  
“Our?”  
  
Yubin stopped. They were in front of a closed watch repair shop. The ghost light from inside glowed soft against the window and the blue sign above that someone forgot to turn off shined over Yubin’s light hair turning it dark.   
  
“You’ve put us in a very uncomfortable position.” Her voice was hard but her expression was troubled. “Your lineage is honestly what has convinced the council to stall. With another old family vouching for you, they’re willing to listen but I can’t guarantee they’ll do anything more than that.”  
  
Minji was surprised. That was more than she was expecting and she was grateful that she had someone like Yubin who she could still rely on.   
  
“Listen to what, exactly?” she asked. “What have you told them?”  
  
“Everything that happened.” Yubin shrugged, hands slipping into her pockets. It was obvious that she was struggling to look at her directly. “I didn’t tell them you and Bora were...involved.”  
  
Minji’s jaw flexed. She didn’t like the choice of words but it was better than what she said before. That argument felt like it happened years ago.   
  
“What are they expecting?” asked Minji.   
  
“The reason why you didn’t go to the Headhunters, Bora’s importance and involvement and her aid in stopping Handong. They want to know what the new Sparrow plans to do next.” She paused, chewing on her tongue as if it was hard to say what she did next. “If she’s worthy of a pardon.”  
  
“A pardon?” That wasn’t heard of. Vampires aren’t pardoned. They were burned.   
  
“Yoohyeon asked for it.” Yubin sighed with a wince. Her ribs must’ve been aching. The cold probably didn’t help. “She told them something about a joint council between coven and clan. Something radical I bet she got from you.” She looked Minji up and down in scrutiny but not malice. Curious, more like.   
  
“You don’t agree?”  
  
Yubin looked at her for a long moment. Stepping over to the shop, she leaned back against the window, sinking to shift some of her weight onto the lip beneath the glass.   
  
“Minji...none of this makes sense to me,” she admitted honestly. “I was there with you the night that same coven took your parents. I remember how broken you were even though you tried not to let it show. They took my grandfather from me, too, something that wrecked my family’s spirit, and so many before us.   
  
“When I saw you getting closer to Bora, I was so angry. It wasn’t like you were betraying the clan, but betraying me. We both gave the same oath when we became a team. That it was _us_ first. That we would fight to the death against any and all bleeders.” Her teeth clenched. From the cold or the weight of her words or pain, Minji didn’t know. “The way you were with Bora wasn’t right. How could you be so kind and trusting to someone— _something_ —that took so much from us?”  
  
Minji took a step toward her but Yubin looked away, denying her aid. She shifted against the window and leaned her head back, eyes on the darkened sky above.  
  
“I get what you’ve been saying,” Yubinwent on. “Not every one of them is deserving of death but you can’t expect us all to get into bed with bleeders the way you did.”  
  
“That’s not what I’m expecting,” Minji came back. “I want what we do to be just. For all of us.”  
  
Eyes narrowed. They took her all in. Minji wondered what Yibin saw when she looked at her now. Did she see a monster or did she see her childhood friend and teammate?  
  
“What even are you now?”  
  
“I’m just me, Yubin.” Stuck in a weird place between two separate worlds. Even so, it didn’t change who she was. Who she had been at her very core. She would be Minji first and foremost before a hunter and before a vampire.   
  
Yubin’s face softened. “You don’t think that what you want is a mistake?”  
  
“I don’t.” She took a step for her. This time Yubin didn’t flinch. “And if it is, I trust that you’ll be the one who can deliver the final blow.”  
  
Yubin’s eyes widened. “Minji…”  
  
“It has to be you.” She closed in, standing the closest she had to Yubin since that night. “Because you are the only other person I know who is as fiercely protective of the people you care about. I know you’ll do what’s right in the place where I was wrong.”  
  
Silence stretched. Minji waited, listening to the few weighted breaths Yubin took in before letting out a long sigh. She understood. That if things didn’t work with the council, then Minji would meet the same fate as the rest of the coven. If that happened, Minji didn’t want anyone else to remove her from earth other than her. Her right hand.   
  
“Then I hope you’re not wrong.”  
  
Yubin held out an arm. Minji smiled as she looked down at it, saw the cuff and the garnet within the bear medallion. She gripped Yubin’s forearm just like the day they were sworn onto a team together and held tight. It was a symbol of their bond. Of their devotion to each other. That if one of their arms failed, the other person would stand in its place.   
  
She knew then that Yubin would always be by her side.   
  
“Me, too.”  
  
-/-/-/-  
  
Buttons fastened one after the other. Minji stood in front of the mirror, button-down pressed and pristine white, tucked into a pair of dark pants. She held up her hair, debating whether to tie it back or not. Black roots were starting to show in the red. She thought maybe it was time to go back to that color.   
  
The vibration of her phone drew Minji’s eyes down to the screen that glared Yoohyeon’s name up at her. She opened the text and smiled at her message of good luck and support. She thumbed back a reply thanking her and that she would see her afterward.   
  
“I like you better like this.”  
  
Her phone sat back down. Minji found Bora in the reflection of the mirror, looking up at her from where she leaned around the corner. She was in a skirt and top. Simple. Her black hair was smooth and straight, draped like silk over her shoulders.   
  
“You didn’t think the leather was sexy?” She hadn’t put on her usual, distressed leather jacket since the shipping yard mission.   
  
She hadn’t touched a lot of her old clothes that served as gear when they went out. There was no need and a slight twinge of panic fluttered in her chest when she thought about no longer being a hunter. It had been who she was for so long that it had become who she was.   
  
“You can make anything look sexy.” Bora slinked up behind her, arms threading around Minji’s waist. She ran her nose across Minji’s back between her shoulders. “I meant happy.”  
  
 _Happy._ Minji thought back to the evening they spent at the park. How much fun they had. How free she felt. How she had laughed more than she ever had in years. The panic began to subsided when she remembered that it was Bora who had shown her things that were worthwhile outside of iron and garnet. It was Bora who she was with and would only show her more things.   
  
“Happy?” she said. “I’m terrified.”  
  
The High Council expected them soon and Minji had hardly been able to sleep. There was no telling what they would decide afterward and her heart would not be settled until all was over.   
  
“I doubt your Supreme Council—“  
  
“High Council,” Minji corrected.   
  
“—is as bad as Handong.” Bora lightly bit into her shoulder then kissed the spot. “We can take them.”  
  
Minji shook her head as she laughed. “We will not.”  
  
“Can I bite one of them?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Just a nibble.”  
  
Minji turned around and draped her arms over Bora’s shoulders. She was grinning that stupid little grin that used to drive Minji crazy. This time it made her tap her nose to Bora’s and slip in for a chaste kiss that she felt in her toes.   
  
“I need you to be on your best behavior.”  
  
Bora batted her lashes. “Aren’t I always?”  
  
She scoffed and spun back to the mirror, picking up the brush for one final touch. Bora rested her chin on her shoulder as she watched, letting silence stretch between them while Minji finished getting ready.  
  
“Do you think,” Bora started after a while sounding listless. “Do you think they’ll...listen to me?”  
  
Minji placed her toothbrush down and found Bora’s eyes in the mirror. It still threw her off when two pairs of red glared back at her instead of one. She was still too newly transformed to shroud the color behind brown and Bora had long since stopped cloaking what she was in Minji’s presence.   
  
For a moment she forgot about Bora’s question and got stuck in a state of disbelief. Disbelief that she wasn’t the Minji she once knew anymore. Disbelief that she was still alive and they had somehow won against someone who used to seem uncrushable. Disbelief that she, as a vampire, was about to stand in front of the High Council.   
  
“I don't know,” she answered honestly.   
  
Yubin told her she was hopeful. That there was a good chance that something would be different after today. Minji wished she knew what that difference would be. Only time would tell.   
  
“We can only try our best.” It was all she could offer.   
  
Ready to go, they found Siyeon waiting in the living room and headed downstairs, quiet as they got into the car and Minji drove. Her mind raced as time passed, anxiety building the closer they drew to the High Court.   
  
Minji reached for Bora’s hand and held it over the center console, clutching hard. This was the first time she would stand in front of her clan without Yoohyeon and Yubin beside her. She wondered if she ever would, though it would never be how it was before. She couldn’t stand it if a rift was created between them and that only made it worse.   
  
“Hey,” Bora called to her.   
  
Minji slowed at a stoplight and looked over at her. Lifting their hands, Bora kissed her knuckles and she was reminded of the night before the challenge. How Bora had come to her in search of strength and encouragement. Bora didn’t have words to share but she had the strength.   
  
Minji clung to it as she parked. Climbing out, they crossed the street, trailing the sidewalk until they reached their destination.   
  
The High Court was a tall building. Towering with gray brick and pillars that shadowed brown doors that didn’t look like they’d been replaced since the forties. A set of stone steps, cracked in places, stretched down to the sidewalk. There was a plaque outside describing the place as a historical landmark closed to the public.   
  
The true entrance was around the back where a set of steps lead down to a door hidden from view and opened to a chamber of halls. One of which would be sat with stern faces.   
  
“Punctual,” said Yubin.   
  
She padded up from the side of the building, hair neat and in a collared shirt. She tipped her head to Bora and Siyeon before focusing on Minji.   
  
“I wanted to talk to you before you got inside,” she said. “Are you okay?”  
  
“As okay as I can be.” She just had to keep her head up. Yubin nodded in understanding. “How is it in there?”   
  
Yubin hummed in thought and shrugged. Minji could tell she was just as nervous as she was by the way her hands were balled in her pant pockets. “They brought in some of the clan leaders and a few headhunters,” Yubin told her. “They’re curious about the story and the situation. That’s all I know.”  
  
It didn’t help Minji’s nerves. There wouldn’t be three people to convince but many more. But maybe that was okay. Maybe that was better. The more who heard what she and Bora and Siyeon had to say, the more likely that there were one or two or four who saw it the way they did—the way Yoohyeon had and how Yubin slowly was.   
  
“That’s more than nothing,” said Minji.   
  
”We should go inside.” Yubin turned, leading them to the entrance in the back where Minji stopped.   
  
She had only walked down those steps once. Back when her parents were killed and she had to give an official statement. She hardly understood what was being told to her as she was made to deal with legal matters such as a will and inheritances all the while being reminded that she was the last of that generation of hunters.   
  
She was the last. Minji wondered if her parents would’ve been proud of the person she had become. She thought, so. They were just and honorable and true. She didn’t doubt that they would be here with her right now fighting for the same thing if they were still alive.   
  
“Minji.”  
  
“Can I have a minute?”   
  
Yubin hesitated before giving the okay. “I’ll head in. Don’t take long.”  
  
Her shoes tapped on stone as she made way down the stairs and entered. Bora pulled up on her side and took her hand.   
  
She tilted her head back, taking everything in.   
  
This was it.   
  
“Come live with me,” said Bora.   
  
Minji’s lashes fluttered in a few blinks. “What?” She craned her neck back down to find Bora staring straight forward.   
  
“Live with me,” she repeated and Minji’s insides jolted. “It doesn’t have to be right now, and we don’t have to stay at the hotel but I thought that...maybe we could…” she trailed off, biting nervously into her lip.   
  
Minji looked past her to Siyeon who was standing quietly, holding onto the sleeve of Bora’s shirt. She thought about what it would be like to leave her old world behind, the comfort and the familiarity of the place she’d always known, to enter someplace new.   
  
She thought maybe she would like that. If it was with Bora and Siyeon, she just might.   
  
“Okay.”  
  
Bora looked at her then. “Really?”  
  
“Really.” She sealed it with a kiss, silently praying that this evening wouldn’t end in iron and fire and this wouldn't be the last time she got to kiss these lips. “Ready?”  
  
“No.”  
  
Minji wasn’t either but she wasn’t ready from the very beginning. Wasn’t ready to encounter someone like Bora, to meet and take down the one who murdered her parents, to have her entire world turned upside down, to find love, to find a new sort of family. But she had done it and this she would do this, too.   
  
Taking the lead, Minji led them down the steps.   
  
Right into the new beginnings of forever.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
_fin._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you everyone for following this journey from start to finish. For your kind words and your time. I hope it was a fun ride for you all. Until next time. Boxx. Out. 


End file.
